Kansas City wants World Cup to assert itself as ‘soccer’ and ‘soccer’ capital

A 750-square-meter billboard on one of Kansas City’s busiest avenues is the clearest sign of how much the city thinks about the World Cup.

But the announcement has nothing to do with the one-year countdown to the tournament in Qatar, which started this Sunday (21). The focus on the Midwestern United States is the 2026 edition of the Worlds.

The sign, which occupies the equivalent of six floors on the side of an office building, is straightforward: “We want the World Cup.” It is the wish echoed in the city of around 500 thousand inhabitants.

A modern streetcar that crosses the streets of Kansas City was draped with the campaign slogan. In addition, there are countless flags suspended from light poles and buildings illuminated with the initiative’s colors and symbol. Small merchants and residents joined the movement.

Last month, the message was intensified, with the support of private entities, such as the administration of the local airport and the hotel chain, due to the visit of FIFA representatives.

Kansas City is one of 17 American metropolises still fighting for the chance to host the 23rdª edition of the Cup. Eleven will be chosen. They will join three Mexican and two Canadian cities as, for the first time, the competition will be held in three countries at the same time. The announcement of the headquarters should take place in the first half of 2022.

“There is no place livelier or more prepared than Kansas City to host the World Cup in 2026,” Mayor Quinton Lucas tells sheet. “KC not only offers a unique combination of accessibility and regional support, but also our community’s love for our city.

Despite the optimism, the mayor knows that the dispute will be complicated, because it involves world famous places like Los Angeles and San Francisco, in California, New York and New Jersey, on the east coast, and Seattle, in Washington. The bet to win the race is also to work on the regional strength.

“When we think of the United States, we always think of the east and west coasts,” said Frenchman Yann Passet, who has been in the country for seven years and is the campaign’s strategic manager.

“We have a lot to talk about about the Midwest. People deserve to know the region and the region deserves to be in this center of attention.”

Being in the middle of the country, Kansas City is known as the “Heart of the United States”. This is also a differential in the race for the Cup. If a plane ride from Los Angeles to New York takes nearly five and a half hours, the journey from Kansas City to Los Angeles can be done in three hours and 12 minutes. For New York, it doesn’t even last three hours.

The support of the population is another cornerstone of the campaign. The petition for the city to host the Cup has signatures coming from the four corners of the country and is four times larger than any other request with the same objective. In addition, youth football associations from nine different states reinforced the desire to host Kansas City.

Bringing the World Cup to Kansas City is a joint effort. Starting with the fact that the city is “divided” into two states: Kansas and Missouri.

The candidate to receive the World Cup is in Missouri, but has the support of the neighbor of the same name, who would benefit from the tournament by concentrating possible training centers.

For the past two years, the city has been at the center of sports news. That’s because the region’s football team, the Kansas City Chiefs, reached two national championship finals, taking home the Super Bowl title in February 2020.

And it would be precisely at the Chiefs’ house, Arrowhead Stadium, that the games would be played. That’s because the public capacity there is 76,416 people – four times larger than that of the Sporting KC stadium, the city’s soccer team.

There is already a plan to restructure Arrowhead if the World Cup comes to the city. According to Katharine Fox, the campaign’s director, the renovation of the place should be the biggest investment.

“We would need to change the size of the field, the positioning of cameras and the VIP areas”, he says in the article.

According to the city hall, there are other works in progress that should help in the process of bringing the World Cup to the Midwest.

The forecast is that the new Kansas City airport terminal, which will cost 1.5 billion dollars (BRL 8.19 billion), will be ready in 2023, three years before the World Cup. In addition, over the last year, more than 1,300 new hotel rooms have opened in the city center. Today there are more than 34 thousand in the metropolitan area.

The prominence of the American football team in the region does not prevent Kansas City from boasting the title of “soccer” capital in the United States.

“The city is passionate about football. The stadium, due to the fans, is known throughout the league for having a scary atmosphere. It’s the melting pot, as they call it”, says Igor Julião, right-back for Vizela, in Portugal, who he recently left Fluminense and has also played for Sporting KC.

If chosen to host the World Cup, the city should host five to seven games. In 2026, the tournament will have an increase in the number of participants, going from 32 to 48.

In 1994, the only time a World Cup was played in the United States, there were 24 teams and only nine venues. Kansas City didn’t even have a chance to be included at the time, but now the scene has changed and so has the enthusiasm to host the tournament.

“In addition to the city being super prepared and having a good structure, the fans are passionate. People in the city consume a lot of football”, concludes Julião.