SoccerWise - Open Mic | How KC Current Are Building a Global Women's Soccer Network

Episode Date: August 28, 2026

David Gass sits down with KC Current owner Angie Long and GM Ryan Dell to talk about the club's ambitions in Kansas City and beyond. From the rise of the NWSL and the club's approach to women's soccer to HB Køge, youth development and creating a pathway to the professional game, Long and Dell offer insight into how they're building the club and creating new opportunities in women's soccer.0:00 Intro1:41 Angie Long on Owning a Pro Sports Team3:51 Kansas City is a Soccer City8:41 Why KC Current Went Global14:13 Building a Player Pathway19:52 Temwa Chawinga, Malawi & the 2027 Women's World Cup25:35 Ryan Dell on Building KC Current29:49 The Youth Development Gap35:17 Creating an Academy-to-Pro PipelineFor the sharpest coverage of American soccer, we’ve got you covered:https://linktr.ee/soccerwisehq

Welcome back to Open Mike, everyone. Our newest show here at Soccer Wise, where we are having some of the best soccer conversations in a late back in a nice casual Friday afternoon setting. And we have a special episode today. We're going to have two guests, two guests who are deep in the soccer world and working together to do something pretty cool, pretty special.

So we have, if you saw the title, we have Angie Long, the owner of the KC. current. They built the first ever women's soccer-specific stadium on the planet and many of the things that they are doing are first of their kind or the only of their kind. One of the things that Angie and her husband, Chris, who sort of run this organization, have done is gone out and purchased a global soccer team. So they have purchased HB Kerr in Denmark, which is now heading into the league phase. So phase one of the UAFA Champions League for the first time this year,

one of the top 16 teams in the women's game in UAFA. So they're really excited about that. And Angie's going to join me to talk about what inspired them to do this, how they're going about it, what they've learned so far, and a lot of the other cool work that's happened around having Ted Lassow filmed at their stadium. Having Temwish Owing would be the best player on the planet, all of the success they've had on the field, and then what they're looking to build, which if you are passionate or interested about youth development at all, it is a huge interest for the KC. Curran. So Angie Long, owning the project and then the person in charge of the work on the ground is Ryan DeW. the general manager right now for the KC current also tapped in on the projects that they are doing around the world. So we're going to chat with both of them. A really interesting conversation.

And let's get to Angie right now. Well, as I said, exciting times right now across Casey and in Denmark. And we were lucky enough to be chatting with one of the owners of both these teams in Angie. Angie, thank you so much for taking the time to join us. Thank you for having me. So I think most people who are sports fans dream of owning a sports team. You own two right now. So I just want to start base level.

What have you learned about owning a sports team and what is the experience like? Do you really think most people dream about owning a sports team? I do. I think everyone thinks they'd be the best owner and it'd be fun and they sit in the front row and they hang out. I think that's how people dream about it. You know, I think of it a little bit differently. It has been super fun. But it's a, you know, you're a steward of a community asset.

And I think that's a really important thing to think of as a sports owner. You know, and if you do it right, it's not your team. It's this city's team. It's the community's team. It's the fans team. It's the players team. It's, you're just a piece of it. I think that's probably like one of the first things we learned is, I don't know,

something, someone was unhappy about something. You know, they were upset with the owners and, you know, and I was like, how can they say, like, how do they have the right to be mad about like my team? And I'm like, wait a minute. It's not my team. It's, it's our team. It's everyone's team. Yeah.

But that's also, it's exactly what you want. They want to capture the city. You want everyone to feel like it is their team. You are a case in the city local. Like, how exciting is it or how much pride do you have? It's not just that it's a team that's captured a community, but it's your community. Yeah. I'm so proud of Kansas City. I mean, are we not the greatest soccer community for sure in the U.S., right?

But it's been what a ride this summer has been to really see that in full force and then to be, you know, part of our team that is doing so well in so many levels and have the city be proud of us. And I'm proud of our city. It's amazing. Obviously, Casey Currant has put the city on a map in a different way and the stadium. but of course the World Cup as well, which I know you and your family was involved with. And I have friends from other countries who couldn't have picked it out on a map who at the time of their life this summer in Kansas City,

what was the experience like around the World Cup and sort of what is the energy coming out of that that you feel? I mean, it was incredible. How fun for our city to have all these people from all over the world here and join together. I mean, the World Cup was an experience. obviously we had incredibly high expectations and it just blew through every single one of those. And when it was over, I felt like empty.

Like, what do I do now? You know, you get so engrossed in it. And I will tell you, we were lucky enough to be able to be on the Netherlands bus when that came through in the parade. And, you know, we hosted the Netherlands in our training center for the duration that they were in the World Cup. And that in and of itself was an honor to have a top club in the world choose our facilities to make their home. And we loved having them. But on the bus, you know, Chris Long said, this is one of the best days of my life. He's like getting married, the four kids and the bus.

And I'm like, the bus is a, I'm not kidding. But it felt like you were just part of something so much bigger, you know? It was fun. Yeah, I think it's. It's one of those things that a lot of people know from the outside. It's a one off moment. We were lucky enough to have Raven on one of our other shows talking about preparations and hosting teams.

I asked her at the end, so I'm going to ask you as well. 21. What could that look like from a World Cup point of view? Like, would we host again? Do we think we're going to have it? Are we excited? Yes, yes, yes. And yes, all of the things.

It was amazing. I really hope Kansas City gets to be a city. we have two venues that could be of use. We are working on expanding CPKCC Stadium, as you may have heard, which would allow it to be itself, not just a host site for a training match, but a host site for a match along with Arrowhead. So that would be, you know, incredible.

CPKC Stadium is one of one. And I'm sure you had this moment more than I did, but watching the Ted Lassau episode, It just felt like one of those things where for me, I've been telling people about this for years. There is this one stadium. If you love women's soccer, if you're passionate about it,

you've got to go. And it amplified it, I think, on a different level. And it's amazing that it is the only place that that episode could have been filmed on the planet. What was it like knowing that they were interested and experiencing them sort of show what you've built?

Again, what that show could do for, the sport and for women athletes, women's soccer players, it just takes it to a complete new level. It reaches an audience that we absolutely cannot, right? We can create the best environment for soccer fans and Kansas City fans and players and all of the above. Well, we can't take it to the level that Ted Lassow just took it to. And I, again, I feel so grateful. I just, I feel so thankful for, you know, Jason.

and everyone's passion for women's sports holistically for their passion for Kansas City and for choosing us to showcase it. And like the odds that the character comes from Kansas already and it's just like it felt like all the soccer capital of the world. Of course he did, right? Yes, absolutely. College football coaches across Kansas and Missouri are clearly going to end up on the soccer side.

You talk about amplification and I think, you know, big conversation right now is where is the growth for NWSEL. Where do you see avenues to push or improve, whether short term or long term? Everywhere. I mean, we're going to be growing in number of cities, right? We're growing in relevance. We're growing in reach. We're growing in talent. We're growing in fandom. We're growing in revenue from sponsorships and media and tickets. and merchandise. So, I mean, this is really just the very beginning. And we're the top women's league in the world.

And the women's game is growing so fast. And we're literally just getting started. So top women's league in the world, but you and your family have made the decision to expand globally outside of NWSL. You purchased a team in Denmark that you're running that's about to appear in Champions League for the first time ever. why step outside of NWSL?

What was sort of the thought process of expansion? For sure. I mean, it's a global game. I think you see a lot of models on the men's side of a multi-club model. And there's a lot of good reasons for that. There's fixed overhead when you own a sports team that you can leverage. But also, if you want to have the right pathways for talent, both on the field and staff off the field, it makes sense to have different teams and different plays.

places, you know, for different reasons. And we, we spent a lot of time looking in Europe for, for a team. And ultimately, you know, being in Champions League was our goal. And we found this incredible team and opportunity in Denmark. Also a community that absolutely loves us, where we're able to have an impact. It's, we own just the women's side, not the men's side. So a lot of these things that I think are becoming core to how we want to think about our investment in sports. We're very, very true in this place. And in the first year, we won the Danish League in our first year there, qualified into the qualifying rounds of Champions League, qualified out of round two, and we're going to, we have round three, which will be a home and away against

PSV Einhoven on the 26th of August and the second of September. If we win that, we qualify of the main stage of Champions League, which is the top 18 teams in Europe. So I think people will be interested. Start with, like, okay, the research you did. Like, how do you land on one team? And how did you land on Denmark and this club? Might not be done at one team.

I'll just leave that there. But how we decided on Denmark and this club, there were a lot of things. We looked at clubs in other locations. And I think you can see other people in our league that own multiple clubs, right? And everyone's kind of gone about it in a different way. But it's, it's, it's, it's, we felt it was, it would be hard for us to, to compete.

If the goal is the, again, the Champions League, it's not the easiest path to go through the established clubs in, in the UK, the established clubs in Spain, the established clubs in France or, or Germany, right? Like, those are tricky, you're going against very strong incumbents and, you know, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, O.L. Barcelona, real Madrid. Like, those are tough ones

to compete. And then you start to say, okay, well, what's interesting? You know, maybe the Nordics are pretty interesting.

They're great, beautiful countries, countries of law, which is important, by the way, if you own a sports team that you actually own it. And,

you know, there's different, each country also has its own law about who's allowed to own. So Sweden, it's the community assets. You can't actually own it as private.

You can own certain streams of revenue. This is a little secret. Not a lot of revenue in European women's football right now. Growing, we think we'll get there, but there wasn't like a revenue stream that we get on. Most of them don't really even have a TV deal that's worth very much. But they have excellent youth academy systems and great, just a great style of football.

And then this particular team in Denmark was one that Wali Corey, who is an owner with us in the car, current, he had been involved in that club before. He was the general manager and he had brought them to Champions League. So he knew the city, he knew, he just knew that it was a great place. It's 25 minutes south of Copenhagen. It's an easy place to recruit talent to come to. People want to come there.

It's beautiful town. Denmark is a great country. And they have an amazing history of excellent football. You mentioned then you only own the women's side decoupled from the men's side. We've seen this now a couple times. We've seen it with Leone as well. You mentioned O'L. What is the experience of that?

Because the two teams do exist in the same place physically still. Like how do you go about? Well, it was under common ownership. And in fact, I think even O'L is still under common ownership. Michelle might own the men and the women now. London City Lane, that says her other club. is just the women's side. This was, and almost every team in Europe,

it's like a 150-year history of the men's side, and then they started a women's side owned by the same person. But we split out, we separated, we created two entities where there was one. We share a stadium. We're both tenants of the municipality. It's a city stadium, and I think that's a pretty common structure

in a lot of places, because when you want to talk about, community assets, these soccer teams are everything to, to their cities. And I mean, they really exist as a community asset and as such like the municipalities, the ones that typically have built and control the stadium. So, and Denmark's a fantastic country where the men's and the women are treated really very equal. And so we have equal rights on the stadium with the men's team. You mentioned Academy development. It is, you know, to me, I think, one of the big next steps for NWSL.

What have you learned about the work that they are doing and how can it maybe intertwine with what you'd like to see for Casey or the league as a whole? So we're not very good at waiting for someone else to create things before we move, right? As you might know. And so we started a second team last year. We feel it is so important. And there's a pathway gap for women's soccer players in this country where you've got excellent club environments,

except for the very best players when they reach a certain age. Let's call it 15 or 16. You know, if you're the very best player on your club team, you're still pretty young to not yet be going into college or your next environment. That's multiple years now where, as, you know, from my perspective, in order to be, develop, you've got to be put into situations with better and better players, harder situations, keep kind of pushing forward. And there's just, there's a real need to concentrate talent. And again, it's great for most things.

And we have an incredible pathway to get players into college. But into pro, we have a bit of a gap. So we said, you know what, we're going to make a second team. And so we've kind of brought together a lot of the best players, many. of them are pre-college age. There's a handful that are kind of right out of college, you know, not quite in WSL level yet, but very good players. And we've built a schedule for this team. We travel with them. They've played against some USL teams. They've played against some boys' teams. They've played in a WPSL Summer League, which we won, which I think, you know,

that's good and bad, right? I mean, it's great to win, but it also speaks to for a team that's only been together for six or seven months, you know, you want there to be a league at some point to join. And it's happening. I just, I just don't know when, but in the meantime, we've got a system where we've got excellent players that are kind of learning what it's like to be pro. You know, they come and they have all of the facilities, all the staff, all of the coaching, all of the training, the best of them train in with the first time sometimes. And it's been, it's been a really good way to kind of accelerate the development of talent. So is there a connection with HB.

Kern and Kansas City Current from a soccer point of view that you feel can be symbiotic? I mean, I would say these teams are always talking together, you know, and a lot of the players that are incur, I think, hope at some point to come to Kansas City. And you mentioned two so far. What is the process like? what do the ambitions look like past two clubs? Well, last year we launched a U-15 and a U-17 academy in Brazil, along with the second team.

So we did the second team here, and we did those academies in Brazil, and that will move to a pro team as well, and so we have kind of a more full suite of teams. And, you know, I think there's a lot of talent coming out of a lot of places in the world and how we go about each area might be different, right? So with Brazil, we started really with an academy. And Denmark, we acquired a team. You know, maybe there's partnerships with clubs.

Maybe there's more clubs to buy and own. But we definitely see this as a global business, a global pathway, a global pipeline of talent. It's interesting to me because as global as the sport is, the women's side has felt more isolated. than what you see on the men's side, where players constantly move. And it feels like you're bridging that very quickly over the last few years. It's happening really quickly.

I mean, I think women's transfer fees have gone through the roof just in the last few years. There's basically a pipeline of players from Brazil that come into the United States, some Colombian, some Mexican as well. There's Brazilian talent that goes to Portugal, just like you would see on the men's side.

There's a tremendous amount of movement in Europe. There's increasing movement in Africa. And I mean, I'm just going to plug this. If you've not been watching Wafcon, you have been missing out because it is every bit as entertaining as it was to watch the African men's side in the World Cup the summer. Fantastic players. And the growth of that market is happening really, really fast. So our very own Temwa, Shuianga, has, I think, single-handedly, like, changed her country. she and her sister have led the team that was 153rd in the world

and last in Woffcom to the finals. They play in the finals on Sunday and they play against a really good, young, fast Cameroon team that will, it's going to be a super entertaining match. So come down, actually, come down to current landing. We've got a big watch party for the game at 2 o'clock. The game's been a bit hard to watch unless you have BN sports.

or Fubo has been I've been reaching the end sports but we're going to have it on the big screen down there and we too really want to get the whole city out to show Temo how much we support her in this endeavor with what she said with Malawi. We're so proud of her. I got to be honest.

I don't really watch the Chinese League. Did you have any idea when Temwa Shoya signed that it was going to be this impactful of a player? I don't think anyone can ever predict this amount of impact. We knew she was a very good player, but you're right, it's the Chinese league, so you don't really know what that means. We knew that she had been very successful in Sweden. We knew that her sister had been very successful in the top of European leagues, and we knew

she was fast. But none of those things actually speak to what makes Temois so special, and I really don't think we knew any of those things, but the way that, you know, her effort when checking back on defense. Her defensive benefit to this team as much as her offensive benefit is incredible. And just her humbleness, her passion, her willing to do anything and everything to help this team win in such in, it's such an unselfish way. And it seems weird to say that about the two-time golden boot MVP winner. But she's not selfish at all. You know, she says, I'm a forward. It's my job to score goals for my team. If I can't score, I pass to my teammate so she can score so we get three points. And that's like 100% her mindset all the time.

And she's incredible. She's really like nobody I've ever seen. Is she doing the pitch for Tabitha? Is she the one running that outreach there? Are we leaving her as recruiter as well for a potential? I don't know. I don't know. They're sisters.

They've got to work that up and still know what they want. But it's sure been fun watching them play together for their country. What do you make of, you know, Malawi have now qualified for the 2027 women's World Cup in Brazil, what the experience will be like. How does it Casey Currant sort of be a part of it or be around it? What do you think the next year is like? Oh, I mean, I think we've got to say that the next year for women's football is incredible and that benefits all of us, right? And we are, we obviously have a team in Brazil. And so that's incredibly exciting. We have players that are going to play for a lot of countries.

And I mean, who knows how Malawi is going to do. But again, she's just just about single-handedly. She and her sister just qualified this team for the World Cup. I think there's only seven players on that team that play for a club. That's incredible. Yeah. I think they said Malawi created a pro league three years ago, finally. Yeah.

And now they're heading to a world. Probably because of Tim 1 and Tabitha. Yeah. Well, we've sort of talked about it on our show, but it's going to be the first women's World Cup in this time zone in over a decade. And as exciting as the men's world cup is, the U.S. probably wasn't going to win that World Cup. This team has a chance to,

how do you think the country sort of experiences that? And how do you think that can amplify NWSL and the women's game in the U.S.? I mean, I can only imagine that it will do whatever. has done in the past, right? So let's just talk about the men's national team for a minute. They captivated this country. It was absolutely incredible. And there was a minute

when I thought they were going to make it. I was, I really did actually. But for the women's side, I mean, you know, when it was here in 99, right? Like selling out 80,000 seat stadiums, it just

the World Cup is the World Cup men or women's and it captivates everyone. And we were already starting with stars that are significantly more well-known. And I think it's just more rocket fuel. To close out this year, Casey Currant, what's sort of the feeling around the club and the community as we head towards the home stretch of this season? I feel good about it.

I mean, we've been missing Tamois, obviously. How could you not? I literally think she's the best player in the world. I agree. And, you know, we've had a couple of their injuries. So some of those ties really wish they'd have been wins. Some things are out of our control, and we're trying to hold our head high and ignore things that don't go our way. But look, we are, we're playing really well.

I think we ought to have actually a lot more goals than we have had. We're creating the chances. They're going to fall. I feel very good about how we're approaching this postseason. We're going to be getting players back at the right times. Well, a Shield Championship last year looking for that NWSL Championship this year. It's one of the most fun teams to watch, whether they're home or away, but especially when they're home from afar.

And make sure to tune in for Champions League Action to see one of the best teams in Denmark and HB Kerr. Angie, thanks for taking the time to join us. Thanks for having me. You take care. Huge thank you to Angie Long for taking the time to join us. Hopefully we'll have her on again in the future. We've had Chris Long on last year. course, who has helped her along her side in this project. But Angie gives us sort of the big

picture idea, what the passion is, what the, what the vision is. But now we get to talk to Ryan Dells, who's the one in the in the weeds making a lot of this happen. Ryan, especially plugged in to the Brazil Academy that Angie mentioned, as well as Teal Rising, the reserve team that the Casey current are running that no one else really does. And so I think this is a really fascinating conversation on the holes that he sees in the pro landscape, the work he's done from the U.S. women's national team to racing Louisville to Casey Currant and the work he's doing right now. Well, we talked to ownership, but now we get a chance to talk to some of the people a little bit below who get to be in the weeds every single day, running soccer teams, building

soccer ideas and being around the beautiful game. So we were lucky enough now to be joined by the general manager for the Kansas City Current, someone who is also working across these projects that the Long family has in their portfolio. We're lucky enough to be joined by Ryan Dell. Ryan, thanks for being here. David, thanks for having me. Really excited to talk about everything we're building. You know, Kansas City, I love Kansas City. I'm a huge fan.

But I don't know that people think Kansas City, Denmark, Brazil. I don't know that there are always a triangle that goes together for people. What is it like sort of the idea of having Kansas City be the center of a global soccer network. Well, I mean, I think everything that's being built here in Kansas City is so important, right? Whether it's the NWSL is really the anchor point of this multi-club group is I've started to kind of use, you know, the infrastructure, the facilities, the NWSL, the allure that this is the best league in the world, makes it a perfect place to be the central location for everything we're doing.

And I think that's what's made it special to be here in Kansas City and then kind of how branch out and spoke out in many ways from here. Your background, you started with the U.S. women's national team a little while ago. And since then, you've moved up through the women's national team to Louisville at the time, racing Louisville now in Kansas City. The growth you've seen, is it anywhere on the track that you expected as you work now at the building that is the only women's soccer specific stadium on the planet?

Was this something you thought would happen? No, I mean, I don't think I thought it personally, but I also don't think I thought about it in terms of the growth of the women's game. I mean, I remember when I was at U.S. soccer sitting middle seats on a commercial plane with Alex Morgan and Becky Sauerbrun and Alyssa at the time and going through the airport like a normal passenger, which we still do in the NWSL to be clear in some ways. But, you know, when you think about it at that level, we had taken one charter in 2015 and that was to the World Cup. that was it. And so when you think about that, I remember taking a flight after the 2015, on the 2015 victory tour

from Seattle to Orlando to play a game on a Sunday afternoon in the team being on that flight. And where they are now is incredible charters every time, five-star hotels, all the growth, the new CBAs on, and that's just the U.S. soccer side. So from that perspective,

I never saw the growth of the game go into where it is now, especially with the World Cup potentially here in 2031 on the women's side. I think on the personal side, I never expected to be there. You know, when I was back in 2015, I was an equipment manager and to sit here, I guess a sport coat and sit in managing so many things. I never envisioned that in my career. I think it's interesting as you talk about that growth and then look at the rest of the world,

that the rest of the world really has that growth to continue. So what are maybe some of the concepts that an NWSL club like Kansas City can sort of push out and teach clubs in Brazil and Denmark or anywhere else around the world. I do think we have a standard here, right? Let's start initially with infrastructure. Infrastructure is the first training ground built just for a women's football team in the United States was open here in June 22. We, you know, the performance center opened in December of 2025.

The stadium at CPKC, the first in the world built for only for a women's professional sports team. So starting with infrastructure is very special. I've spent some time in Denmark with H.P. Kerr and their stadium and their infrastructure is quite remarkable for their league and for Denmark and at Scandinavia part. And I think we're trying to do the same thing in Brazil. So there is great process in what we're doing in Kansas City. Hopefully spreading that out to the other ends of the world, the ecosystem to show what we're building is actually really special. Angie talked about it in our first conversation. There is gaps in the youth development pipeline in the United States. You are trying to fill some of those gaps as a one club

working on it. Talk to us a little bit about what you've identified and what some of the solutions that Kansas City has put together. Yeah, so there are some gaps. And I think it's the post college and then the elite level youth. Right. So that's kind of the gap that we've identified find is a challenge. There's elite level youth that sign into the NWSL. There's elite college players that sign into the NWSL or around the world. But there is a gap in development between them in a weird way. You have players who maybe are still young and up and coming that can sign into the NWSEL in the future. Maybe they go to college and then through maybe you have elite level college players that need just a little bit more time to develop and then have

opportunities, whether it's in Kansas City with a second team. whether the first team or within Denmark. So I think that there is this gap that we're seeing. And what we've tried to do here is from a roster construction standpoint, is fill the second team roster with players that are, you know, those high achieving post-college players. Maybe there's a player that we have here who's a Sunbelt player of the year. You know, she didn't sign into the end of herself,

but she has thrived in our environment. And so maybe she's, you know, got a little bit more time to be an elite level end of a cell player. And that's a different pathway than has typically gone. There's no draft, but you're not signing players. Amateur players in our local area in Kansas City has been relatively fruitful. It's not New York and New Jersey. It's not California.

It's not Florida. But it is a good little market. And so those players come in and training in a professional environment. Every day's training six days a week, 30 matches a season. All, you know, given a professional standard, you know, so they're getting, you know, they have their own coaching staff, they have their own locker rooms. They have the same gear as our first team. They're getting all the support.

they're getting meals, all those things that we can provide them to get them to the next level. And that's something that's never really existed before. You have your E-C-N-L teams. They go in, they play the tournaments, they play the games. Great. But they're not training on that daily basis in a professional environment. And I think that's why it's been so successful for us here in Kansas City. Is there an idea that potentially the clubs in Denmark and Brazil could be places to loan those players out or give them other opportunities?

or is the idea to build out the infrastructure and have this second team be the one spot for these players that you think could be taking the step to Casey Current in the future? No, I actually think it's a spider web in many ways. Players can go from the Denmark Academy to the second team to Kansas City Current, or it can go from Kansas City Current to Denmark, or it can go from Brazil to straight to Kansas City Current first team. There's all these pathways. You have to think of it, and we think of it as a web.

There is no direct path for any one player. Every player's path is different. And we want to make sure that we are providing the opportunities for them to grow, to develop, to become a professional. And every story is going to be different. We've signed players from our second team into Kerr. We've loaned players from our first team into Kerr. We've had players from Kerr and come on loan to Kansas City. So, you know, Brazil relatively new.

So hopefully in the next year or two, we start to see some more of those movements. But it's not a linear path by any means. actually very directional. I was talking to someone this week and we've seen a larger influx of South American-based professionals come into NWSL. So rather than coming for college and then getting drafted in or already being in the U.S. or being raised here, we're starting to see players being bought from Paraguay and Brazil and Colombia.

What is your experience so far of working in the women's soccer landscape in South America and maybe what it looks like? It's very unique. It's, it's, it's, you go and you, you know, a lot of the teams in Brazil, I'll use this as an example, is tied to the men's team. So we sat down last week with the Sao Paulo Federation on a project we're working on in Brazil. And they shared that they've never had a women's team go pro directly, just in women's football. It's always been a men's team that's. had a women's team. And we thought that was very interesting as a group that's just women's

football base. So we thought that was really kind of special. And so when you think about it from that landscape, that lens, they're really an addition to the men's team. And we don't want to be an addition to the men's team. We want to be special. So when you think about the resources that they have in Brazil or in South America, it's much less than what we have here in the United States. It's much less than what they have in Denmark. The facilities are, you know, typically older, a lot of times community owned in some ways are maintained by the community and the cities. So it's a very unique landscape. So we're hoping we can do something a little different in Sao Paulo. We can be leaders in facilities, just like we are here. We've talked about

it. We can be leaders in opportunity and education, whether that's English lessons, whether that's meals provided to the athletes. So there's a lot of areas that we can grow. And we're really starting to see that kind of the fingerprints of Kansas City down in Artile Rising Academy. The one thing, though, and I mentioned this, Angie, that's interesting is in these other countries, there's a history and a culture of the youth development side pre-pro, right? Players in Denmark and Belgium and France, they join pro academies at nine years old. They play through them. We don't have that in the U.S. I know we talked about the two team. What's the thought of what the future is for youth development in the women's game in the U.S.

So we're starting to actually see it. I think that's what's super amazing. We launched something last year called the Teal Rising Alliance. It's a collection of youth clubs, both here in Kansas City and regionally. And those clubs now have committed to working with us and vice versa on opportunity. So we have six tournaments a year for them. So we have two elite tournaments. That's us bringing the elite level of talent to Kansas City.

It's usually a Memorial Day and right at the end. end of the season. So late November, December, Thanksgiving, the Christmas period. We have regional tournaments. So those are our Teal Rising Future Cups. Those tournaments are tied to regional clubs. So that's things people from St. Louis, Des Moines, Tulsa, you know, Chicago, maybe, Dallas, areas where they don't have a women's team and they can bring their teams here and see what we're doing in Kansas City. And then we have our alliance tournaments. So those tournaments are tied to local players. So those six events. Beyond that, we host a monthly coaching education session with those players that's at early with those coaches so everything from

how to plan a session to game planning to nutrition to mental health right so giving them the resources how do we support the grassroots here in kansas city create better environments to create better players long term those players then the selected group are going into talent identification camps so we're doing those on wednesday nights they're coming in they're doing they're doing talent ID sessions, and we're starting to see the fruits of that labor. So several of those players from those talent ID sessions are now coming into the second team, both a little bit this fall, and then in the January of next year, they've already been identified. So now you have, for the first time in this country, a true academy to pro pathway.

They go from their club into the alliance network, into the second team, and potentially signing across the group. And that is special. I don't think we've ever had something like that on the women's side in this country before. I know we saw the proposals that were out there in the media about what a reserve league would look like in NWSL and has not moved on it yet. What's the ideal scenario in your guy's mind for where that two team would live and what their yearly environment would be like? Yeah, David, I think we have to have teams coming into an environment like what we're providing here in Kansas City. We need to have a professional environment with professional coach.

with great facilities where they can grow. Where does that league need to live? I don't know exactly right now. Do I think there needs to be a second division? Yes, because we're also seeing a gap in our lower minute players on the first team. So what I think we need to have is low minute first team players with the ability to play down with our second team and second team players with the ability to play up. And that is something that exists in MLS.

It exists in Europe. And I think that is really the next phase of development that we need to find. And so a second team within the end of O'SL who can both highlight player development, not only on the second team, but also within our first team rosters. When you look at the way the pipeline's going right now, do you envision a world in which a bulk of KC current players in the future are through the pipeline? Is that sort of the idea? Is it supplementing the back end of a roster?

Like, how do you think about how this affects the soccer team? Yeah, I think it's a long-term plan, right? It's not something that's going to happen in 27. It's not going to happen tomorrow. It's something that's going to take time. And I think we do eventually see a pathway where those players are coming into the first team. They're going into HBK and Denmark. They're going into, you know, whatever the next phase of expansion may be.

And I think that's super important that we get this youth development piece right. And then it can support the first team. in Kansas City and in in Kerr as well. You mentioned expansion. I've got a list of countries I like visiting. Do you have an idea of the next country for all of this to go to? No, I don't. But I know there's a, this is a very ambitious club,

and I'm sure that Chris and Angie have a plan. Let's talk about that ambition. Shield last year hosted a championship two years ago as the neutral site. What's the feeling of where this team sits right now and where you're at on the pathway? of the plan that you built? Yeah, I think we're early in that plan, but this team is very good. And I think this is a very good soccer team.

We have a great home field advantage when people play in Kansas City, which we love. I'm very excited for them to be home this weekend and next. So, no, I think we're in a really good spot. We've got a great staff, a great group of players, and just looking to go out day by day. I assume as general manager, your job is very busy. it feels like there's been a lot of turnover in that first team roster over the last 18 months. Is that something that was expected or is that something where some situations pop up and you can't control them? I think there's a lot of turnover in this league as a whole.

And I think you're seeing that right now. I think you'll see that in this offseason. So I think that it's just par for what is happening in this league and in the women's game. You think that's an acceleration of, money and transfers or is that an effect of the CBA or is that just the nature of where things stand? I think that's the nature of where things stand. I'll let you, you guys can have a bigger opinion on it than I can. Don't worry. We do like a full hour show every week about it. So I'll tune in and I'll give it. I'll give it a listen. See if I agree or not. You can let us know if we're right or wrong. Let me ask you

this. Besides the stuff we just talked about, what has you most excited about NWSL, right now. I think the quality of the football is so good. What made me excited about the NWSL is how good this league is and the players that are coming into it. The growth, when you look at teams coming in like Denver and in Boston, you know, we've played in both environments and they both do a great job of, you know, putting in fans in the stands and creating this great environment and great competitive matches. So I think that where the league is heading from a growth perspective is super special. Well, we have really enjoyed our time watching the KC.

Current. We love watching anything at CPKC Stadium. I had a blast at the championship two years ago. And hopefully we'll get to watch you make a pretty deep run this year. But Ryan Delg.m. of the team, thanks for taking the time to join us. Thanks so much. Well, awesome conversation with both Ryan and Angie. Could have to talk to them all day. We will have to have them back on a show in the future.

But this is why we have open mic. Five shows a week on Soccerwise, two shows a week on First Touch. yet there's still so much to talk about. So thank you to all of you for listening. Thank you for joining us. Share the show with anyone you think will be interested. Please like, please subscribe anywhere you get your podcast or on YouTube. And we'll talk to you again, very, very soon.