KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When thousands of soccer fans descend on CPKC Stadium in Kansas City's Berkley Riverfront Park for the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) Championship game Saturday, they'll be walking over more than a century of unrealized plans on the precipice of launching Kansas City into the future. "I think it’s important to recognize that Kansas City really re-embraces our river," said Port KC President and CEO Jon Stephens. "We are a river city." The Early Years Early commerce grew along the river banks of the Missouri River in the early 1800's, with some remnants still visible if you know where to look. Eventually, those industrial businesses moved while the rock cliff separating the water from the population base made access a challenge. Local business owners on the economic impact of NWSL Championship "One of the reasons that it never really came back for decades wasn’t because there were old industries down here," Stephens said. "It wasn’t even, in many cases, the environmental challenges that needed to be remediated. But it also was it wasn’t connected to anything." The Turn Around While the River Market and neighborhoods south of the river, warehouse and dredging companies occupied the type of space that other American cities turned into tourist attractions and entertainment venues. In the middle of the 20th Century, city plans for a riverfront baseball stadium, before Kauffman Stadium, and a convention center, before Bartle Hall, came and went. In the early 1990's, the new ability to create riverboat casinos created the Hilton Flamingo in 1996. It's now called Bally's Kansas City, but it very slowly laid the groundwork for other development nearby. "This has been a 35-year, overnight success," Stephens said. Union Berkley Riverfront and CORE created more than 700 apartments less than a mile from Bally's Casino while Bar K created a unique dog park/bar/restaurant across the street. "Having the first vertical buildings really changed the trajectory," said Stephens. Right Now "Our owner’s famous for saying, Angie Long, 'You cannot unsee what we’ve done," said KC Current President Raven Jemison. While planning churned behind the scenes for years, the first outward signs that Kansas City's riverfront was changing revolved around the $135 million, privately financed, CPKC Stadium. It's the first stadium build exclusively for a women's team, and Kansas City's KC Current christened it in its first season with a home playoff win in early November. "We built the cool thing, and the team responded in kind," said CPKC Stadium General Manager Stefanie Tomlin. "[The team] having a space that's their own has everything to do with why they've been so successful this year. How can you not feel motivated to come out and give your all when you have something that’s built for you." The Current missed being able to play in the NWSL Championship in its own stadium after getting knocked out of the playoffs Sunday, but Tomlin says the fact that the NWSL picked Kansas City for the league championship in the first place shows the Current. "It's a proof of concept that I cannot be more proud of," Tomlin said. "The business works, the feeling works, the passions behind us, the city’s behind us, the economic development is behind us, it’s a working model." The new Origin Hotel nearby and a beer garden straddle the KC Riverfront Extension, which is on pace to bring the first riders to Berkley Riverfront Park in early 2026. The Future That's the changing riverfront that now is slated to get roughly a billion dollars of investment over the next 10-15 years from the KC Current, Port KC, and other partners to build out an entire neighborhood. "We want you to leave your apartment building, grab coffee, maybe grab a game or a concert and then go back and have dinner," Jemison said. "That is the premise of an entertainment district." Phase 1 is expected to have apartments, restaurants, and retail starting at CPKC Stadium's front gate and gradually working east towards the existing apartments. "2.2 million square feet, almost a billion dollars more of private investment over the next decade, all of this will be completed within the next decade and in the development world, that’s lightening fast," Stephens said. He also points out that while other projects might stall while acquiring financing, these plans, despite their size, are insulated from those challenges. "Everything we have announced thus far, down here, is already effectively approved and in the plans and funded for the future," Stephens said. The early steps have not been without their own challenges. The start of the season in CPKC Stadium was marked with sticker shock at $50 parking fees, matching what it costs to park for Chiefs games and surpassing parking prices for Royals' games and Sporting KC matches. "Kansas City’s favorite problem to complain about is parking," said Stephens. "I’m a Kansas City native; I know. I’ve complained about parking." Stephens says the new development will have some parking but is focused much more on being a multi-modal community, nudging people toward other forms of transportation, like the KC Streetcar, walking, and bike, scooter, or ride-share options. "At first, sure, parking was a big thing but we also saw on match one, 3,000 people walked," said Jemison. See the latest headlines in Kansas City and across Kansas, Missouri While fans adjusted to the match day commute, Munroe says the play inside CPKC Stadium and the investment outside it changes how Kansas City and other communities can view this kind of neighborhood building. "This is a part of history, but this is a part of setting the standard for what probably should have always been but we're now really looking at women's sports getting the investment that they deserve," Munroe said.