Forbes published its annual rankings of NWSL franchise valuations on April 22, 2026, and the number attached to the Kansas City Current, $325 million, up 18 percent from last year, is worth understanding in full context.
Brittany Mahomes was one of the first people to bet on this team. She made that bet in December 2020 when the NWSL awarded an expansion franchise to a Kansas City ownership group that included her and primary owners Chris and Angie Long.
The franchise was worth essentially nothing. It was a blank canvas. It had no history, no stadium, no established fan base, and no guarantee that women’s professional soccer in Kansas City would work.
It is now the second-most valuable franchise in the NWSL.
What Did Forbes Reveal About Mahomes’ Team?
The valuation of $325 million comes from Forbes reporter Brett Knight’s annual NWSL franchise rankings, published April 22. The Current sits second on the list behind Angel City FC, which is valued at $340 million and owned by Willow Bay and Bob Iger.
The Current’s valuation represents an 18 percent increase from its $275 million valuation last year, and its $36 million in annual revenue remains the highest total revenue generated by any team in the NWSL.
Forbes credited the stadium as the primary driver. “Putting the deeper pockets to good use, many teams have begun building new practice facilities, and Current owners Angie and Chris Long privately financed the $140 million construction of CPKC Stadium, which opened in 2024 and has turbocharged the team’s business,” Knight wrote.
For context on what that $325 million number means. The average NWSL team is now worth $134 million.
Five years ago, the average was less than $20 million. The league has multiplied in value across the board, but the Current has outpaced most of it.
Who Built The Team?
The KC Current’s ownership structure centers on Chris and Angie Long, who are the primary co-founders of Palmer Square Capital Management and who personally financed the $140 million construction of CPKC Stadium.
The stadium opened on March 16, 2024, the first premier sports venue in the country built primarily for a women’s sports team, and it changed the financial trajectory of the franchise immediately.
Revenue went from $3 million in 2021 to $36 million in 2024, a number that no other NWSL club has matched.
Brittany Mahomes became a founding co-owner in December 2020 when the expansion franchise was awarded.
Patrick Mahomes joined the ownership group in January 2023. Their involvement has amplified the team’s visibility in ways that go beyond ownership percentage.
Brittany is a former soccer player herself, she played forward at the University of Texas, where she scored 31 goals over 74 appearances, which gives her involvement a credibility that pure celebrity ownership often lacks.
She has been in the stands for matches, amplified the team on social media, and functioned as an active ambassador rather than a passive investor.
On April 24, she posted an intense workout video from a gym session that quickly spread on social media, raw, unfiltered, showing the kind of physical discipline she brings to everything she does publicly.
The Current separately returns to NWSL regular season play on April 24 when the team travels to face the Washington Spirit in Washington D.C.
On May 6, she will return to CPKC Stadium to receive the inaugural Champion for a Change Award.
The Growth In Numbers
The KC Current’s valuation history is worth laying out plainly because the trajectory is remarkable even within the context of a rapidly appreciating league.
In 2021, their first season, the franchise revenue was $3 million. By 2024, it was $36 million, a 12x increase in three years.
The valuation went from approximately $75 million in 2024 to $275 million in 2025, a 266 percent jump in a single year. It has now grown another 18 percent to $325 million in 2026.
The team is the fourth-smallest market in the NWSL and still ranks second in overall franchise value. The stadium is the engine behind all of it.
The Longs followed CPKC Stadium with another major capital commitment.
In July 2025, they announced a $52 million expansion in Riverside, Missouri: Riverside Stadium, a Performance Center, and a Pitch Expansion.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Performance Center and Riverside Stadium was held in February 2026, Brittany and Patrick were not present, as Mahomes is in the middle of ACL recovery and keeping a lower profile.
Patrick Mahomes Coming Off A Difficult Season
Mahomes suffered an ACL tear in December 2025 and has spent the offseason in rehab.
His stated goal is to be ready to start for the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1 of the 2026 NFL season, though that timeline is aggressive for an injury that typically requires nine months of recovery.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was measured about the outlook when asked ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft. “He goes to meetings, he can lift, do all of that, rehab,” Reid said. “That’s the phase he is in right now, so we’ll just see, kind of play it by ear, and see where he is at. He’s doing great, but we just have to be smart with this thing.”
Neither Mahomes nor Brittany have attended a Current match yet this 2026 season.
Have The Current Been Successful On The Field?
The team’s early 2026 season has been bumpier than 2025, when they lost only three games all year. They opened 2026 with a three-game losing streak that raised early concerns.
During the international break, though, they won the 2026 Teal Rising Cup Championship, a 6-1 victory over Brazil’s SE Palmeiras. Forward Haley Hopkins recorded a hat trick during the match, the first in CPKC Stadium’s history and only the second in franchise history.
She was named the Teal Rising Cup MVP for the second consecutive year. Mahomes reposted Hopkins’s hat trick video to his Instagram Stories on April 12.
The team has also undergone significant changes from last year. They hired Chris Armas as head coach, former coach Vlatko Andonovski shifted to sporting director.
On the roster side, they sent Claire Hutton to Bay FC for $1.1 million and acquired midfielder Croix Bethune from the Washington Spirit.
Days before their home opener they also traded $350,000 in value for forward Penelope Hocking.
The moves reflect an organization investing seriously in staying competitive, not just in stadium infrastructure.
What The Investment Means To Brittany
Brittany Mahomes described what this investment has meant to her in terms that go beyond the financial return.
“I think it’s just been incredibly fulfilling,” she said. “As an athlete myself, I think there’s been a bunch of passion, talent and grit that exists in women’s sports. So being able to be in that position to spotlight this and show everybody how amazing women’s sports is has just been a dream come true for me.”
That framing matters because the KC Current’s story is also a story about what happens when you put real money and genuine commitment behind women’s professional sports at a moment when the market is beginning to recognize the value that was always there.
The Current bought in at the ground floor. The NWSL average valuation was under $20 million five years ago.
It is $134 million now. Angel City is at $340 million. The Current is at $325 million, in what Forbes describes as the fourth-smallest market in the league.
The bet that looked speculative in 2020 looks very different in 2026.
