[2][5] Since moving across the state line, they have been the only major professional sports league franchise to play their home games in Kansas.

The club also has a reserve team, Sporting Kansas City II, that began play in the second-tier USL Championship in 2016 and switched to MLS Next Pro in 2022.

The Kansas City Wiz played their first game on April 13, 1996, defeating the Colorado Rapids at Arrowhead Stadium with a score of 3–0.

The Fire put ten shots on goal, but Tony Meola and the defense held, and the Wizards claimed their first MLS Cup Championship.

[11] After the loss of Preki to the Miami Fusion, the team struggled to defend their championship in 2001, making the playoffs as the 8th seed with a record of 11–13–3.

By the end of the 2005 season, despite the solid play of 2005 MLS Defender of the Year Jimmy Conrad, the Wizards found themselves outside the playoffs with a record of 11–9–12.

With the Wizards Davy Arnaud's goal in the first game to win the series, the defense and Kevin Hartman did the rest and kept Chivas USA off the scoreboard.

In 2008, the Wizards played their home games at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas, and ended a four-year playoff drought by posting an 11–10–9 record, good enough for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

The announced attendance of 52,342 was a record for a professional soccer match in the Kansas City area[18][19] In the 2010 regular season, the Wizards finished third in the Eastern Conference and narrowly missed qualifying for the playoffs.

With the rebranding (of Wizards to Sporting) the team followed a recent trend in MLS of adopting European-style names, such as Toronto FC, D.C. United, and Real Salt Lake.

KC began the 2012 season with seven consecutive wins, in the process setting an MLS record for 335 minutes without allowing a shot on goal.

KC won the 2012 U.S. Open Cup, defeating Seattle Sounders FC in the finals, to qualify for the 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League.

In 2013, Kansas City took advantage of MLS's newly created retention funds to renew contracts with U.S. national team players Graham Zusi and Matt Besler.

Sporting finished sixth in the Western Conference that year, again qualifying for postseason play due to the expanded twelve-club field in the 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs.

[30][31] Kansas City unveiled wordmarks on the team's jerseys and on Children's Mercy Park to commemorate their late owner.

The victory extended head coach Peter Vermes's record to 4–0 in cup finals and championship games with the club.

The eleven alternating horizontal stripes of "sporting blue" and "dark indigo" forming the state line are a nod to the number of players a team fields.

Once again the club had to use the stadium for their game against Inter Miami to accommodate the large crowd for Lionel Messi's first appearance in Kansas City.

The Wizards entered an agreement with the Kansas City T-Bones to use their home stadium, CommunityAmerica Ballpark, during the 2008 and 2009 seasons.

The team had received all required approvals and was awaiting site demolition; however, the 2008–09 financial crisis ultimately led to the scrapping of the Trails Stadium project.

[61] The main supporters group of Sporting Kansas City cheers in the Members' Stand on the North side of Children's Mercy Park and is known as "The Cauldron".

[66] Sporting KC began a rivalry with St. Louis City SC starting with the team's entrance into the league in the 2023 season.

A series of emails from Sporting Kansas City’s front office arrived in the inbox of the podcast's Gmail account.

Former Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum provided color commentary following his retirement after the 2014 season.

Morning reporter Kacie McDonnell of KSHB-TV, an NBC affiliate and KMCI-TV's sister station, served as the network host of the pregame and postgame shows.

Nate Bukaty continues to provide the play-by-play commentary, while Jacob Peterson joined as the color commentator ahead of the 2020 season with Carter Augustine returning as the sideline reporter.

[77] In 2022, prior to an upcoming leaguewide TV deal, KMCI returned as broadcast partner for those in the Kansas City market,[78] with other areas being able to stream all matches on the club's website.

Spanish broadcasting was previously found on KDTD 1340AM, but is on KCZZ (ESPN Deportes Kansas City 1480AM) for the 2018 season.

The broadcasts are produced by Jorge Moreno and feature the voice of 13-year MLS veteran Diego Gutierrez along with Ale Cabero, Raul Villegas and Alonso Cadena.

[86] The individuals named as Sporting Legends, their year of induction, and a brief description are listed below: ^ + Dom Dwyer scored four goals in this game[87][88][89] Primary sources Further reading