Women’s professional soccer coming to Kansas City
Kansas City is fast growing a reputation as a soccer-mad city, and it’s going to get another boost next year when a women’s professional soccer club takes the field. The team will be called FC Kansas City and owned by the same owners of the Missouri Comets of the Major Indoor Soccer League. U.S. Soccer announced the creation of the league, which doesn’t have a name yet, on Monday, and unveiled a unique structure meant to give the league stability. U.S. Soccer will pay the salaries of 24 players from the national team, and three national team players will be on each of the league’s eight teams. The Canadian and Mexican soccer governing bodies will kick in salaries for 16 and 12 of their national players, respectively.
U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati told reporters in a conference call, “We’re subsidizing the private sector to make the investments necessary by the private sector smaller.”
FC Kansas City doesn’t have a home field lined up yet (the comets play at the Independence Events Centers). It will join teams in Boston; Chicago; western New York; New Jersey; Washington, D.C.; Seattle and Portland. The league is planned to run from March or April through September or October. Women’s pro soccer has a history of failure. Two previous women’s leagues have folded, including Women’s Professional Soccer, which was shuttered last year. (The story of the Boca Roton-based magicJack team’s failure is fascinating.)
