When travelling to France to watch their daughter’s youth soccer games, East parents Chris and Angie Long expected to watch high level soccer, as she was competing against skilled teams from around the world. What they didn’t expect was to return home with a business idea that would transform the Kansas City soccer community.
In between juggling youth games, the Longs were able to attend the Women’s 2019 World Cup, which left them wondering why there wasn’t a women’s soccer team in Kansas City. After hearing about a college friend trying to introduce a new women’s team to Los Angeles, Chris and Angie felt that if she could bring a team there, then they surely should be able to bring one to Kansas City.
Over the span of a year, Chris and Angie looked into the possibility of creating or moving a team to Kansas City. And in December 2020, the Longs — along with the leadership group working with them to relocate the team — officially purchased the Utah Royals Women’s Soccer Team.
Whether their impact inspires youth to get involved in soccer or simply creates more events for the community, Angie expects the team will contribute to the city in many facets.
“It’s such a positive impact in so many ways,” Angie said. “It could give a lot of female athletes some real role models in professional sports. It increases the soccer DNA of the entire city, and I think it’s incredibly energizing.”
The leadership group moving the team consisted of owners the Longs, Brittany Matthews and Jen Gulvik, as well as the team’s future coach, Huw Williams. The common thread between these group members was their desire to host a women’s soccer team in Kansas City.
“When all of the news about Utah began to get to the press, we reached out to the league and said, ‘If and when the team becomes available, we would love to have the team,’” Angie said. “They have a great roster. We felt like we could be prepared and ready to have a team in 2021.”
Once pre-season officially begins on Feb. 1, all players from the team will relocate to Kansas City and begin practicing at an undetermined location, with their games being held at the newly renovated T-Bones stadium.
The group is still working on the logistics before the team officially relocates and starts playing — whether that be renaming the team or analyzing the roster to look for prospective players.
“Right now we’re getting to know the players that we have,” Williams said. “We’re looking at the college draft in January and also talking to other teams and other players’ free agents across the world to talk about the potential of playing with us.”
Once preseason hits in February, Williams is looking forward to starting practices with the team, coaching and challenging players while shaping the cohesive and unique style of the team’s play. To avoid Kansas’s frigid winter conditions, Williams plans to begin practices in a warm location for a few weeks prior to competing.
As the official season begins in April, Williams and Angie are in agreement that the team’s ultimate objective is to start winning championships.
“We have high goals,” Williams said.“We’re not doing this just to be participating in it. Our goals will be to certainly create excellence if we can on and off the field [and] to be part of the community. I hope these players can be very approachable and be part of the youth soccer community and Kansas City as a whole.”
East soccer player and junior Maggie Nottberg has been playing since she was three and has enjoyed following teams in the NWSL. Nottberg developed a passion for soccer by watching these women compete and thinks it’ll help other young female athletes like her find interest in the sport.
“I just think it’s a great opportunity for a lot of young girls to see some kick-ass women play some awesome soccer,” Nottberg said. “It can be kind of empowering but there’s also the feminist side of it. I just think it’s great.”
The leadership team is proud to bring the competitive athletes to a city that appreciates the sport and will support the team locally, as well as hopefully grant them national recognition.
“I mean, Kansas City is the greatest soccer market in the United States,” Angie said. “It’s a great market for sports. We really wanted to have a women’s team back in Kansas City. It contributes so much to the city to have the women here, the support of soccer, women’s athletics, the role model professional athletes provide — to me it’s crazy we didn’t have a team.”