KC Sports Mogul Angie Long Champions US Women's Rugby Growth at CPKC Stadium
Kansas City sports entrepreneur Angie Long is bringing elite women's rugby to the Midwest, hosting a crucial Pacific Four Series double-header at CPKC Stadium this Friday. The event features the US Eagles facing the Australian Wallaroos, following New Zealand versus Canada, with Long anticipating a sell-out crowd that could surpass last year's record attendance of over 10,500 spectators.
From College Rugby to Professional Sports Ownership
Long, co-owner of the Kansas City Current NWSL soccer team with her husband Chris, discovered rugby during her Princeton University years after initially playing golf. "I really missed being on a team," she recalls, describing how she joined Princeton's robust rugby program that fielded three teams with mostly former varsity athletes. Playing fly-half and inside center, Long helped secure national championships in 1995 and 1996, earning All-American honors twice.
Her athletic background translated seamlessly to rugby. "I was a goalkeeper from age four or five, so I've got good hands, I can kick a ball really well, and obviously I was used to playing field sports," Long explains. "Everything about rugby suited me. It is the ultimate team sport. You literally cannot move the ball without your team."
Building Women's Sports Infrastructure in Kansas City
After Princeton, Long pursued finance, co-founding Palmer Square Capital Management, while maintaining her passion for sports. The turning point came in 2019 during the Women's World Cup in France. "You could literally see the change that was happening at a global level," she says, describing the moment she and Chris committed to bringing professional women's soccer back to Kansas City after FC Kansas City relocated to Utah.
The result has been transformative: reviving the team as the Kansas City Current, constructing the purpose-built CPKC Stadium with investment from Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife Brittany, and recently acquiring Danish club HB Køge Women. "Our thought was, 'Let's just study the model of professional sports,'" Long explains. "Facilities were a huge part of it. This is just what makes sense for sports: a strong belief that the reason women's sports hadn't grown, it wasn't at all the product. It was how you were showcasing it."
Rugby's Rising Profile in American Sports Landscape
Despite Midwest tornado warnings disrupting Australia's preparations, Long remains focused on rugby's potential. Last year's USA-Canada match attracted 10,518 fans, a record broken months later when over 16,000 attended a World Cup warm-up in Washington DC. While social media star Ilona Maher isn't playing this year, Long sees no decline in interest. "Maybe she was just the gateway and now people know a little bit more," she suggests.
The Eagles enter Friday's match following a 48-15 loss to New Zealand but with optimism after Australia's 24-0 defeat to Canada. The unchanged starting XV hopes to replicate last year's thrilling 31-31 World Cup tie against Australia. Long draws parallels to women's basketball's recent surge: "The whole argument was, 'Well, the men are driving the viewership, not women.' And who drives more viewership now? Actually, the women do."
Emotional Impact of Professional Facilities
Reflecting on last year's rugby event, Long describes overwhelming emotions. "It moved me on so many levels," she says. "From the players' eyes when they saw the facilities and they walked on the field and they saw the crowd, it was everything that frankly, as a female athlete for the prior 30 years, I never knew I was missing until I had it."
Many of Long's Princeton teammates will attend Friday, having flown in for last year's Canada game. She emphasizes the power of proper presentation: "All we had to do was look at tennis, look at the Olympics. When you put women on an even footing, you showcase them, the way you broadcast them, you talk about them, the way you tell their stories, there's every bit as much interest to watch women's sports as there is in men's."
While US women's rugby remains semi-professional through Women's Elite Rugby, with players like captain Erica Jarrell-Searcy and full-back Alev Kelter competing overseas, Long sees tremendous growth potential. "Don't you dare count us out," she declares. "We've got the athletes to do it. We've just got to get more exposure to the game."
