Last month, it was revealed that the city of Portland would be added as the 15th member of the WNBA in 2026. Given that the T-Mobile center has no sports team and a rapid interest in basketball in Kansas City, could KC be the 16th league member?
On Wednesday, it was learned that the ownership group behind KC Current, which includes Patrick and Brittany Mahomes and Angie and Chris Long, has met with WNBA officials about bringing an expansion team to Kansas City.
If successful, the Mahomes family’s interests in the Kansas City Royals, Sporting KC, and the KC Current would get a high-profile addition to the sports landscape in Kansas City.
So how did we get here? First, let’s look back.
When the Sprint Center was built decades ago, the talk was either the NHL or NBA would place a franchise in Kansas City. The Pittsburgh Penguins were on the verge until NHL Commission, Gary Bettman, a hater of the idea, merged a deal with the city of Pittsburgh, convincing them the move to Kansas City was imminent.
The Arizona Coyotes also weighed in on Kansas City, including a tweet of support from Chiefs Quarterback Patrick Mahomes indicating, “Let’s do it.” Instead, the league sent the struggling franchise to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Rumors suggest that Quebec City in Canada or Atlanta in the U.S. will be next to become expansion cities, with a $5 billion price tag. That’s pretty rich for an NHL franchise.
The NBA has also considered Kansas City; at various points, the New Orleans Pelicans, Charlotte Hornets, and Oklahoma City Thunder made overtures to move their franchises to the Midwest. Again, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver doesn’t think Kansas City is a viable option to support his watered-down game financially. Ironically, he would have to approve the Kansas City WNBA Bid.
So, instead, Silver is teasing the city of Seattle as a return candidate to the NBA, hoping the city of Las Vegas steps up.
It’s ironic because in 2007, as the host city of the NBA All-Star game, hotels, restaurants, and casinos were shocked at the physical destruction from their host weekend. Las Vegas emphasized that the event and the NBA never returned to Sin City.
Still, the Sprint Center’s construction premise was to attract another major sports franchise; instead, it has become a home of concerts and the Big 12 Basketball tournament. Thankfully, Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormack sees the value in the now T-Mobile Center, and moving the iconic basketball tournament elsewhere makes zero sense.
So why does the NHL and NBA hate Kansas City so much? That’s a great question that might not have a simple answer.
However, there now appears to be a silver lining to bringing another sports franchise to Kansas City that can pierce that resistance.
Mahomes can assemble an ownership group for the WNBA or an NBA franchise. He has that much Cache in the sports and business communities. Whatever he touches turns into GOLD Bars. Based on the success of the KC Current, which outperformed Sporting KC this year, ladies’ hoops might be a better investment.
Thanks mainly to Angel Reese and Caitlan Clark, the women’s basketball league is a must-watch TV show – despite how badly Silver manages the product. That aside, buying into the league won’t cost as much as the NBA or NHL.
No disrespect to the woman who built the league, but these superstars put the WNBA on the sports landscape, and adding an expansion team in Kansas City in 2027 or 2028 would bring the league to 16 members to a city that loves basketball.
After meeting with Mahomes and his team, I’m not privy to any information regarding Kansas City’s position on the WNBA’s expansion plan, so we don’t know which city will get the league-balancing franchise after Portland.
Yet, if Mahomes is motivated and has the financial backing to make such a move, it would be great for his legacy. After decades of promises, he would bring a full-time occupant to the T-Mobile Center when nobody else could.
