CPKC Stadium made women's rugby history
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo: Nick Tre. Smith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
More than 10,000 women's rugby fans filled CPKC Stadium to watch USA vs. Canada, and they made history doing it.
Why it matters: Women's sports are surging, and Kansas City is right in the middle of it.
- Between the Kansas City Current building the first stadium in the world specifically for a women's professional sports team and this record-breaking night for USA Rugby, the city is proving that if you invest in women, the fans will come.
Driving the news: Earlier this month, a crowd of 10,518 at Kansas City's CPKC Stadium set a new U.S. record for attendance at a women's rugby match, according to stadium officials.
- The previous record? Just over 2,000 fans, set in Glendale, Colorado, during a USA vs. Canada match in 2021.
The big picture: The game wasn't just a first for rugby; it was the first international match played at the women's sports-specific stadium, according to CPKC.
Context: The USA Women's Eagles aren't new. The national team has been around since the 1980s, winning the inaugural Women's Rugby World Cup in 1991. They reached the finals again in 1994 and 1998, and today they're ranked ninth globally.
- This match was played in rugby fifteens, a full-contact format with 15 players per side and 80 minutes of nonstop no-forward-pass play — part endurance, part chess, part grit.
What they're saying: The energy didn't go unnoticed on the field, even if some attendees had never seen a scrum before.
- "I haven't seen this in any city I've played in before," USA rugby star Ilona Maher told Axios. "To see 10,000 people come out to see a sport that they probably have no idea what's happening on the field is so tremendous."
- "It's a lot of women, a lot of girls," she said. "They're willing to support and spend their money on things that mean something."
Zoom in: Team captain Kate Zackary, who grew up in Salina, Kansas, called the night "surreal."
- "To see the crowd be over 10,500 — like, that was absolutely fantastic in this women's purposely built stadium," she said.
- "It reminds me of my roots," she said about playing at CPKC. "I started in soccer, ended up in rugby," she said.
Zoom out: Adding to the city's momentum in championing women's sports, Kansas City's first bar dedicated entirely to women's athletics, The Dub, is set to open downtown later this year.
Between the lines: Head coach Sione Fukofuka said the team embraces the spotlight.
- "We talk about pressure being a privilege," he said. "The more people that watch, the better."
What's next: The U.S. keeps going in the Pacific Four Series with games on Saturday against Australia and May 23 against New Zealand. All eyes are on the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup starting Aug. 22 in England.