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FC Kansas City excited to host inaugural NWSL match

Thad Bell February 16, 2013 18

FC Kansas City coach Vlatko Andonovski looks on during the 2013 NWSL College Draft in Indianapolis, Ind. (Copyright Patricia Giobetti | http://www.printroom.com/pro/psgiobetti)

FC Kansas City and Portland Thorns FC will make history on April 13 when they step on the field in the first-ever National Women’s Soccer League match. All eyes will be on Kansas City since it is the only match that day, the rest of the teams start league action the next day. The team considers hosting the inaugural match of the league an honor for Kansas City and the ‘Blues’.

“We are really excited and honored that the league selected us to do it, being a brand new franchise,” FC Kansas City president Brian Budzinski said. ”When you have a lot of former WPS and WUSA teams in there, really only three new clubs in us, Portland and Seattle, so for us to get selected is really a testament to the job our front office and ownership group has done as far as the NWSL trusting us with that responsibility for the first game.”

FC Kansas City coach Vlatko Andonovski is also excited for the challenge of opening league play against “the team to beat,” a Portland squad stacked with the likes of US striker Alex Morgan and Canadian forward Christine Sinclair.

“As much as it puts pressure, it’s also motivation for me personally and hopefully motivation for the team,” he said.

“It definitely makes it a little harder because all eyes are going to be on us.”

This is not the first time the FC Kansas City staff has had this pressure. The Missouri Comets and the Blues share the same front office staff and most of them went through a big opening day for their team previously.

“Three years ago when we launched the Comets, we did the first game that year as well,” explained Budzinski. “We told the league that we wanted to play Milwaukee, the defending champ that year as well. We wanted to kick off with Portland this year. There is good stress and pressure and anxiety, that is what we are in this thing for. All those good emotions, energy and excitement to make sure that you perform because literally we know the world is going to be watching that game.”

No venue change

Even before the Blues knew they were the opening act for the entire league, there had been much speculation and some serious talk that the first game for FC Kansas City might be played at Sporting Park, home of MLS’ Sporting Kansas City. With room for more than 18,500, it would have been able to seat more fans and provide a soccer venue that has quickly become one of the best in the country.

FC Kansas City would not have wanted to play every game at Sporting Park and risk good crowds looking tiny like the Kansas City Wizards did in Arrowhead Stadium not too many years ago, but playing the opening match there held a lot of appeal. There was a report that it would cost FC Kansas City $10,000 to rent Sporting Park but sources within the club place that figure as high as five-times that price and it would have required revenue sharing as well. The Blues could have rented Arrowhead for significantly less so the game will remain at their home stadium at Shawnee Mission District Stadium.

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  • Steglitz49

    Could someone please clarify for this bear of little brain. At which stadium will this first match be played?

    I gather that Shawnee Mission District Stadium has a capacity of 6,150 while Sporting Park can take about three times that. Which is it? Or will it depend on the level of interest?

    • randomhookup

      They are playing in Shawnee Mission because Sporting Park was going to be too expensive.

      • Steglitz49

        Better the smaller ground filled to capacity and spectators turned away than the bigger ground half empty.

        Also, let’s pray for a ding-dong opener, something like the Wonder in Berlin a couple of months ago. OK, we do not need one side going down 4-0 and starting to turn it around with 20 min to play, but how about 3-1 down with 30 min to play and a 4-4 draw? Or like the last Algarve Cup final.

        Tons of goals and not too many players stretchered off in the excitement.

  • Thad Bell

    They will play the game at their home stadium which is the Shawnee Mission District Stadium.

  • jahbuyaka

    All eyes will be on Kansas City since it is the only match that day, the rest of the teams start league action the next day.

    But will the games be available for all to see? To see or not to see. That is the question.

    • http://www.phasedma.com Anthony

      I think that all leagues that can afford to do so should have a streaming option for every single game. How the NFL has not figured this out is beyond me. It doesn’t have to be free, but in 2013 I do expect the ability.

      • Steglitz49

        Verily. This is how the Germans do it:
        http://tv.dfb.de/live/index.php?live=list

        Please someone who knows German explain how it works.

      • Michelle

        I’ve seen people at Eagles games with these four inch square screens around their necks – they don’t stream the game (I don’t think…) but they do get angles and replays that you won’t otherwise get in the stadium. So the capability is definitely there.

        • http://www.phasedma.com Anthony

          FanVision.

        • Steglitz49

          I am at a loss. You go to the game to see it in flesh and blood there. The modern technologies were not available until recently — yet people loved soccer.

          You do not need to see every single angle replayed. Soccer is almost a continuous game. You blink and you miss the key moment. Lost and gone forever.

          It is a foregone conclusion that the ref is biased against your team and needs to go to the opticians the next morning. You do not want a gadget that tells you that most refs are right 99 times out of 100. Anyway, the media will sort that one out for you like the German papers did after the Olympic final.

          Instead, sit or stand on the terraces. Drink your coffee and eat your buns that you brought with you, or have a beer if you are allowed to. Pat the dogs. Live in the present — not through a 4 inch screen!

          • Michelle

            Soccer, absolutely, you’re right.

            American football, the NFL… well, let’s just say that there is a significant amount of down time in between each play. You’re not missing anything by looking at the screen for the replay. I’m an NFL fan but hate going to live games because you miss so much as opposed to watching on television. I think it’s probably the only sport that’s better on tv than live.

          • Steglitz49

            If soccer were to take off in USA — men’s as well as women’s — which of the current 4 big sports would suffer?

            It is difficult to see the NFL suffering because the seasons do not overlap and it is an exciting game of great skills. The NHL seems to be doing its best to bury itself and seems to be on the retreat in USA anyway. A rump will survive in Canada running on oil sands. Basketball with all the bits of pieces like the NCAA Final Four (ladies as well as men) televised seems not under threat.

            Is it MLB who are in the danger-zone? Mind you, cricket survives in England though most cricket-playing nations are not much cop at soccer. What do you think?

          • http://twitter.com/originalslicey Jessica Bridges

            None of them would suffer. There’s room for all the sports in the U.S. And soccer is already one of the “Big 4″ in the United States. Soccer actually had the 3rd highest attendance of any sport last year – higher than both NHL and NBA game attendance.

            Plus, a city that has one sport doesn’t necessarily have all of the others. Kansas City is a good example of this. Great NFL and MLS attendance, so-so MLB attendance, and no NHL or NBA teams.

            What soccer in America REALLY needs to work on is TV contracts. Television is where the money is. That and merchandise is how teams make their money; not through attendance.

          • Steglitz49

            I put it to you that it is not the actual audience that matters but instead how much and by what percentage you fall short of the max that could have been there. In addition, obviously, what is the revenue per seat?

            It goes without saying that the San Siro, Emirates or Wembley seats more than the Boston Garden or the Staples centre. I daresay that Nya Ullevi seats more.

            For the three years in a row, in 2014, 2015 and 2016, serious soccer will be played in the US time zone, the first time since 1994. Go for it! That sequence will decide the TV-audiences.

            The key issue is to decide the unique feature of ladies’ football — and hammer it home to those that pay for advertising etc!

    • http://twitter.com/DCAbloob Everett Will

      The Washington Spirit tweeted that it’s likely all teams will stream the games.

      • Steglitz49

        I put it to you that what matters is that the stands are full, at least for these initial games. If potential sponsors watch streams that show empty terraces, why should they sign on the dotted line?

  • http://twitter.com/originalslicey Jessica Bridges

    I hope FCKC does well enough that they can get a later season game at Sporting Park. I think it’s disappointing that they want to charge so much to rent the stadium; I really think there should be some inner-city cooperation here to help us grow the women’s game.

    Maybe if FCKC is successful enough and sell out some games at SMDS, then later in the season they can swing enough ticket sales to justify renting out Sporting for one of the later games against Seattle or Portland.

    • Steglitz49

      I would prefer LFCKC but I guess we are stuck with the uncouth FCKC.