Photo by Briana Tozour via Uplash.
If you’re looking for a good sports city and atmosphere, Kansas City is your place to be. It’s host to four major professional sports teams across three different sports: baseball, football and soccer. This article aims to be a survey of Kansas City sports, highlighting each team and providing a little history for each.
Chiefs Kingdom: Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs are the oldest professional sports team in Kansas City, although they weren’t established in Kansas City. Our beloved Chiefs were established in 1960 as the Dallas Texans by then-American Football League (AFL) founder Lamar Hunt.
A minor tangent about the AFL: The AFL was created as an alternative to the NFL by Lamar Hunt. To avoid a talent war, the AFL merged with the NFL to create one league in June 1966. The AFL became the American Football Conference (AFC), whose title still bears Mr. Hunt’s name. The first AFL-NFL championship in 1967, amusingly called the World Championship, kicked off what would become the Super Bowl era.
In 1963, the Dallas Texans moved to Kansas City and rebranded as the Kansas City Chiefs. Since then, they’ve won six league titles (four Super Bowls and two AFL championships, before the AFL and the NFL merged) and are currently one of the best teams in the league. Under the leadership of star quarterback Patrick Mahomes II and head coach Andy Reid, the Chiefs have won their division for nine straight years, the AFC championship game for five of the last six years, and three Super Bowls.
On first arrival in Kansas City, they played at the Municipal Stadium on E. 22nd Street and Brooklyn Avenue. In 1972, the team moved to Arrowhead Stadium in Jackson County, where they have played for the last fifty years.
Across from Arrowhead is the second team we’ll encounter on this tour of KC sports: Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals.
The Boys Are Playing Some Ball: Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals inhabit Kauffman Stadium (in the same sports complex as Arrowhead), named after entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing M. Kauffman. (His family foundation also contributed significantly to Kauffman Gardens and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, both located in downtown KC.) Like the Chiefs, the Royals also played in Municipal Stadium until 1972.
The Kansas City Royals are currently in-season. As of the time of writing, they place third in the American League Central, trailing the Cleveland Guardians and the Detroit Tigers. The Royals haven’t seen as much success as the Chiefs. They’ve only won the World Series twice, in 1985 and 2015. Since that win in 2015, the Royals have only made the playoffs once.
That said, the Royals are looking to turn things around this year and build on their AL playoff appearance last season. Stars like Bobby Witt Jr. (#7) have garnered significant attention; Witt Jr. was selected as a starting shortstop on the US national baseball team. Last year, KC Royals ace Cole Ragans (#55) was named to an All-Star team, and the Royals hope he can continue to deliver.
The Other Midwestern Football: Sporting KC
Sporting KC came to Kansas City in 1996 as the Kansas City Wiz, creating electric football from the second they landed in Kansas City. A decade and a half of KC Wiz brought an MLS Cup (2000), a US Open Cup (2004), and a dramatic victory against Manchester United in 2010 at Arrowhead Stadium; Man Utd. would go on to win the English Premier League that year.
In late 2010, the Wizards rebranded as Sporting KC and opened their own stadium, Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas, although they’ve kept elements of the Wiz heritage ever since. Six years of MLS playoff appearances through 2017 have been followed by what the Sporting website politely calls a “dip in form.” Although the team is third last in Major League Soccer, they’ve won two of their last three matches against St. Louis and San José.
Making a Splash: KC Current
The Kansas City Current are KC’s newest addition to professional sports, playing in the NWSL – the National Women’s Soccer League. In Dec. 2020, the NWSL awarded an expansion franchise to Kansas City, and the city was up for the challenge. KC Current owners constructed CPKC Stadium for the club, the first stadium in the world specifically created for a women’s professional sports team.
While some may be tempted to write off the Current due to a rocky start in 2021-23 (where they had two seasons placing in the bottom three), the Current have made waves in the league ever since. They qualified for the 2024 playoffs as the #4 seed and made it to the semifinals, losing to top-seed and eventual NWSL champions Orlando Pride.
The Current have substantial talent on their side, including 2024 Golden Boot winner Temwa Chawinga (#6), whose 20 goals last year set an all-time NWSL record. This year, the Current have only allowed one goal this season and won their first five regular season matches, the only team in the league to do so. Their only loss came to the North Carolina Courage on Apr. 26, 3-2.
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Whether you prefer watching boys in blue or exploring #TealTown, Kansas City knows how to bring the energy to its local sports teams. At home, away, and at the stadium, there is always a KC sports team for you to discover.