Kansas City won't be getting a WNBA team as a part of the league's recently announced expansion, but local sports leaders believe the city is ready for one.

The big picture: With the growth of women's sports, the success of the KC Current, strong local commitments and a "top-tier" basketball arena, another KC women's team seemed like a slam dunk.

Driving the news: Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, a Missouri native and Mizzou grad, expressed skepticism about how exciting it would be to play in the selected cities while providing pros for the places that were left out.

• "Kansas City, amazing opportunity," Cunningham said. "There's a huge arena downtown that no one's using, and I think that the women's soccer league is showing that [draw for people]."

Zoom in: KC Current owners Chris and Angie Long were the primary advocates for a WNBA team, KSHB reported, along with Patrick and Brittany Mahomes.

What they're saying: "Kansas City has so much to offer the WNBA," Chris Long stated while expressing disappointment in the decision. "We have an incredibly engaged fanbase, a thriving sports culture, and a proven commitment to elevating women's sports."

• The WBNA said each city was chosen in part based on market viability, long-term owners and existing facilities.
• Long said he had committed to building "another world-class training facility" for the team, as he and Angie, his wife, did for the Current. He also called the T-Mobile Center a "top-tier venue."

Zoom out: Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia all have NBA teams. The owners of those teams will also own the WNBA expansion teams in their respective cities.

• Detroit and Cleveland also have had WNBA teams in the past but lost them due to declining revenue and fan bases.

What's next: Kathy Nelson, president and CEO of the Kansas City Sports Commission, said the commission will "continue to showcase Kansas City as a premier destination for women's sports" through events like NCAA Division 1 championships this winter and the Big 12 basketball tournament in March.

Dig deeper: KC positions itself as a softball powerhouse

Kansas lawmakers agreed to extend their self-imposed deadline on funding a new Royals and Chiefs stadium after the teams asked them for more time.

Why it matters: Fans may have to remain on hold for six months more as teams negotiate with civic leaders on both sides of the state line battling for home-field advantage.

Zoom in: Legislators activated a clause in the original law that extends the state's ability to finance a new stadium from June 30, 2025, to June 30, 2026.

• But the Legislative Coordinating Council made a new motion that requires the secretary of commerce to present a deal by Dec. 31.
• Kansas House Speaker Daniel Hawkins said he wants this done before the legislative session starts in January.

Between the lines: Hawkins said he didn't want to extend the deadline at first, but he agreed to it after hearing the teams had waited long periods of time — up to three months — before hearing back from state officials.

• "That's not fair to the teams when they're making proposals and they're not getting responses back," he said.

The other side: Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas previously stated on X that, although the city "understands the teams' need for sufficient time," it has proposed an "unmatched offer to secure the future of the Royals" downtown while supporting the Chiefs' "legacy as stewards of one of the great venues in all of sports."

Catch up quick: Border battle set for Royals, Chiefs stadiums

Historic Texas flooding has reportedly killed nearly 90 people, including a 9-year-old cousin of the Hunt family that owns the Chiefs. The NFL and its two Texas teams are contributing a combined $1.5 million toward relief.

䷖ Residents at Bowen Tower in Raytown have formed the city's first tenant union after saying their rent increased 15% after they lived without hot water and gas for more than a week. (Kansas City Star)

⚡️ A power plant sitting idle in KCK could be used to power a 192-megawatt data center.

• The Unified Government is considering selling the site to PowerTransitions for $13.6 million. (The Beacon)

The Supreme Court ruled in June that states can require porn sites to verify users' ages, clearing the way for Kansas' and Missouri's different laws to stand.

Why it matters: The 6-3 ruling has implications for online free speech that reach far beyond sexually explicit websites.

State of play: Kansas and Missouri are taking different paths, but both are working to make age checks a standard part of accessing adult content online.

• Kansas enacted a law in 2024 requiring adult sites where at least 25% of content is "harmful to minors" to verify users are 18 or older using a government-issued ID. Pornhub and other platforms responded by blocking access in the state, citing privacy concerns and legal risk.
• Missouri didn't pass a law, but Attorney General Andrew Bailey rolled out a new rule in April that requires adult sites to verify a user's age twice — once on the site, and again on the device. Any personal data used for that check has to be deleted immediately. Sites that don't comply can be fined up to $10,000 a day.

The other side: Free speech advocates argued the law not only violates adults' privacy but also fails to protect children from accessing porn.

• The law does not apply to search engines or social media platforms where children are most likely to be exposed to sexually explicit material, they said.

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