KC Current fans shocked by season ticket parking cost
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Current fans are disappointed at the prices that some will pay to park at the new, historic CPKC Stadium this season.
The club that will have the first stadium purpose-built for a professional women’s soccer team shocked its supporters on Wednesday when they showed that season ticket members would pay $50 per match for their season parking pass if they chose that option.
Season ticket members got the first choice to secure a season parking pass before other fans.
The price is equal to fans who park at Arrowhead Stadium to watch the back-to-back Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. Parking at Kauffman Stadium only costs $20 to watch the Kansas City Royals.
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Sporting Kansas City has free parking but also has paid parking options for season ticket members and non-season ticket members.
For Current fans who were season ticket members when the Current played at SKC’s Children Mercy Park and enjoyed that free parking, the price tag befuddled them.
“I was gobsmacked,” KC Current supporter group KC Blue Crew president Trina Hawkins said. “I was kind of anticipating maybe $20, $25 per match. That’s where my mind was at. But the fact that it’s double is just, I’m still wrapping my mind around it.”
“It was just such a surprise after essentially three years of free parking,” season ticket member Justin Kramp said. “It’s a new stadium, we get it, there is a cost to this stuff. But to go from nothing to the most expensive sports event parking in Kansas City, it doesn’t feel as thought out as it could have been.”
“It’s half a plan. We’ve got the plan for how much we’re going to charge people who are willing to pay for the rest of you. We’ll let you know later. And it’s like later is three weeks from now.”
The Current sold out of season tickets for the 2024 regular season in December but have 2,000 seats in reserve for single-ticket sales, group sales and other packages that are available by signing up for the waiting list, which is part of The Current Club.
If a season ticket member wanted to take advantage of the season parking pass for all 13 regular season home matches, it would be $650 before taxes and fees.
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For STMs who do not want to take on the big price tag, the Current recommend other options like parking off-site, ride-share, streetcar, bus, bike, and shuttle services along with on-site and off-site ADA accessible parking.
Single-match parking is also not available at the moment.
In a statement, the Current said that more information about off-site parking and transportation opportunities will be available in the coming weeks.
“We have the most passionate fans in the entire NWSL. We are excited to give our Season Ticket Members the first opportunity to purchase limited parking passes available for the new downtown stadium.”
“We will offer very limited pre-paid single match on-site parking to Current Club members and the rest of our fans at a later date. We are thrilled to offer other solutions that align with our focus on multi-modal and sustainability for off-site parking and transportation, including park-and-ride options, ride-share, streetcar, bus, bike and shuttle services.”
“Our Season Ticket Members now know that they have the option to purchase season long parking passes. There will also be options for those who need ADA accessible parking, both on-site and off-site. More information about our off-site parking and transportation opportunities will be available in the coming weeks.”
The Current went to the NWSL Championship in 2022 in the club’s second year of existence. After some notable signings, the Current went 8-2-12 and finished next to last in the NWSL last season.
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But with more roster moves along with former United States Women’s National Team head coach Vlatko Andonovski on board, fans are excited again to see their favorite team in a historic stadium in 2024.
Attendance for the home matches has also grown each season going from averaging 5,438 fans in 2021 to averaging 11,353 fans per match last season at CMP.
CPKC Stadium holds 11,500.
Those numbers already make game-day logistics a potential nightmare with only three designated lots for stadium parking and only 25 tickets allotted to opposing supporter groups.
STMs have until Monday, February 26 to decide if they want to purchase a pass with the number of season ticket memberships exceeding the number of parking passes available.
Supporters like Hawkins and Kramp, are confident that they will support the club they love by stating that the Current have done a lot of positive things like building the stadium and including local restaurants as vendors.
They also feel that the Current may have priced out other fans.
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“There was a lot of good stuff happening,” Kramp said. “Then something like this happens and now it’s like you’ve taken all the wind out of the sails that was really propelling a lot of excitements in the beginning of the season. Now people are having to real with coming up with $650 to go to the games this season that was never, never discussed at any point in time.”
“You’re already spending money on the seats,” Hawkins said. “You’re probably gonna buy snacks, you’re probably gonna buy, you know, merch and things like that. All of that adds up.
“And that’s unfortunate because we’ve seen in other leagues like in Europe that that doesn’t work out well.”
