KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the ownership group of the Kansas City Current, who play in the National Women's Soccer League, have been meeting with WNBA officials a bout bringing an expansion franchise to the city.
Mahomes confirmed the talks Thursday, saying that it was a “no-brainer” to try to bring women's hoops to Kansas City.
“Obviously, we want to get basketball in Kansas City in general,” said Mahomes, who also has ownership stakes in the Royals and MLS club Sporting Kansas City. “You talk about the University of Kansas basketball, the Chiefs, whatever it is, the city is going to come out to the stadium. It's cool we were able to get the women's soccer team here and you see the support they have.”
The Current, who play in a $117 million purpose-built stadium near downtown Kansas City, have regularly sold out their home matches this season. They begin the NWSL playoffs as the No. 4 seed on Nov. 9 after losing just three times all season.
Mahomes and his wife, Brittany — a former soccer player — frequently attend Current and Sporting KC matches. The Chiefs quarterback was in a suite at Kauffman Stadium a few weeks ago to watch the Royals play the Guardians in the playoffs.
“I think more than anything, I know how much sports has given to me,” said Mahomes, whose unbeaten Chiefs play Tampa Bay on Monday night. “Whenever I'm done with football — whenever that is — and I have to venture into life after football, and chase kids around, I want to still be a part of it. Hopefully, we can get this WNBA team here, for life after football, so I can make an impact in sports, and show my daughter that you can chase your dream, whatever dream that is.”
The WNBA is expanding by three teams over the next two seasons with Golden State, Portland and Toronto pushing the total number of franchises to 15. And while league commissioner Cathy Engelbert has said the WNBA would like to add a 16th team by the 2028 season, Kansas City is expected to have competition from St. Louis, Philadelphia and several other cities.
The league has been buoyed by young stars such as Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, drawing its best attendance numbers in 22 years this past season. Game 5 of its championship peaked at 3.3 million TV viewers, the most-watched WNBA game in a quarter of a century, plus 22 telecasts during the 40-game regular season topped at least a million viewers across various networks.
Kansas City has long had the infrastructure for a professional basketball franchise, building the T-Mobile Center in 2007 with the hopes of luring an NBA or NHL club to town. Those teams never materialized, but the building has remained busy hosting concerts and other sports events, including the Big 12 men's and women's basketball tournaments each March.
Mahomes believes a WNBA franchise would be the perfect fit for the downtown arena.
“They want to expand. Just like any other business, you have to pick and choose how,” he said. “Obviously, you've seen the last few years the WNBA has grown. We feel like Kansas City is a great place to continue that growth, but we have to battle other cities to show them that this is the right place.”
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
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