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National Women’s Soccer League commissioner announces CPKC Stadium will be site of 2024 championship
CPKC Stadium, the first soccer stadium built for a women’s professional team, will be the site of the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League championship game.
NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman joined “CBS Mornings” to discuss why the historic stadium — which opened earlier this year and is the home of the Kansas City Current — was chosen for this year’s championship game. Berman said for the first time, there is a facility built specifically for women, and the details within the 11,500 seat stadium were designed to remind people of that.
“When you walk into the building, Title IX is displayed on the wall. It’s a constant reminder. The artists that are displayed around the building are female artists, female chefs. But even more tactically, the bathrooms are all unisex,” Berman said. “This was just built with a different level of care and attention to the fact that it is the home of a women’s team.”
Berman also discussed how the sport is growing. Regular season attendance for NWSL games surpassed 1 million fans for the third consecutive season, breaking the milestone “earlier in the season than ever before,” according to the NWSL.
“It is a movement, and the investment that’s coming into this league is unlike anything in history. So you look at it from an ownership perspective, from a sponsorship perspective, from a media standpoint, having partners like you at CBS and our other partners who broadcast our games in live television and primetime for the biggest audience to see. We have to ask ourselves and believe that this is a sustainable movement.”
National broadcast viewership to date is up 95% from the 2023 season, according to the NWSL. Berman attributes that to legendary players like Alex Morgan, who was left off the roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics team, but who Berman said has helped build the sport, along with others.
“I think everything we’re doing today is built on the shoulders of the players who got us to this point. Alex is one of them, but even before Alex, we have icons of this game in the 80s and the 90s who really built the foundation to create the perception that when we think of greatness and soccer in this country, we actually think of women,” Berman said.
Berman said the focus is now on youth participating in soccer.
“We were actually the first league to let under 18 players into our league, and when I think of that I think of my own child who’s 16 and imagine him competing on the field and it’s hard to imagine, but it’s an incredible moment.”
The NWSL championship game airs live on CBS and streams on Paramount+ on Nov. 23.
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A food company known for popular grocery store condiments has recalled a package of tortilla strips that may be contaminated with wheat, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday. The product is meant to be gluten-free.
Sugar Foods, a manufacturing and distribution corporation focused mainly on various toppings, artificial sweeteners and snacks, issued the recall for the “Santa Fe Style” version of tortilla strips sold by the brand Fresh Gourmet.
“People who have a wheat allergy or severe sensitivity to wheat run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume the product,” said Sugar Foods in an announcement posted by the FDA.
Packages of these tortilla strips with an expiration date as late as June 20, 2025, could contain undeclared wheat, meaning the allergen is not listed as an ingredient on the label. The Fresh Gourmet product is marketed as gluten-free.
Sugar Foods said a customer informed the company on Nov. 19 that packages of the tortilla strips actually contained crispy onions, another Fresh Gourmet product normally sold in a similar container. The brand’s crispy onion product does contain wheat, and that allergen is noted on the label.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
No illnesses tied to the packaging mistake have been reported, according to the announcement from Sugar Foods. However, the company is still recalling the tortilla strips as a precaution. The contamination issue may have affected products distributed between Sept. 30 and Nov. 11 in 22 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington.
Sugar Foods has advised anyone with questions about the recall to contact the company’s consumer care department by email or phone.
CBS News reached out to Sugar Foods for more information but did not receive an immediate reply.
This is the latest in a series of food product recalls affected because of contamination issues, although the others involved harmful bacteria. Some recent, high-profile incidents include an E. coli outbreak from organic carrots that killed at least one person in California, and a listeria outbreak that left an infant dead in California and nine people hospitalized across four different states, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The E. coli outbreak is linked to multiple different food brands while the listeria outbreak stemmed from a line of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products sold by Yu-Shang Foods.