Keeping Kansas City out of 2026 World Cup would be a mistake
A renovated Arrowhead Stadium would host games if Kansas City is selected as a host city.
Kansas City is in the hunt to become a host city of what I consider to be the world’s greatest sporting event.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, will be the first World Cup hosted by three nations, making it a landmark event.
It is going to be the second time the U.S. has hosted a World Cup. The first was in 1994, with games held in California, Massachusetts, Texas, Michigan, New Jersey, Florida and Washington, D.C. Some call Kansas City the Soccer Capital of America, and it would be a big mistake to leave it out of the World Cup in 2026.
Another reason it will be a landmark event is that it will be the largest World Cup of all time. The tournament will expand to 48 teams for the first time, normally hosting 32 competing nations. The expanded format also means that there will be 80 games total played in 16 host cities, compared to the 2019 World Cup in Russia, where 64 games were played in 11 host cities.
The United States will have 10 host cities, which must be narrowed down from a pool of 17 that have made the final cut— which includes Kansas City. Kansas City’s bid is being organized by Kansas City Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt as well as Sporting KC Principal Owner and Cerner Corporation co-founder Cliff Illig.
Kansas City’s bid has a lot going for it, like the number of quality facilities that could host teams, games being played at a renovated Arrowhead Stadium with a capacity of 69,070, being within a four-hour flight to the furthest host cities, and already proving to be an American hotbed for soccer.
Assuming the largest cities are most likely to be chosen, Kansas City’s biggest competition are Nashville, Cincinnati and Denver. From these four cities, there will likely only be one or two selected. Still, Kansas City should stand as the frontrunner.
Compared to those other cities, Kansas City clearly is the best fit. It has experience hosting the biggest sporting events in America such as the AFC Championship, the World Series, All-Star games for MLB and MLS, and the MLS Cup.
Kansas City also has a number of training facilities that could host teams, including Sporting KC’s current training facility, Compass Minerals National Performance Center.
With the success of Sporting KC along with continually being ranked toward the top in soccer viewership numbers and World Cup watch parties in recent years, Kansas City has proven its loyalty for soccer.
One of the few things Kansas City lacks is public transportation. The new airport will be a key addition, but the lack of public transportation is something that Kansas City must convince FIFA won’t be a detriment to hosting thousands of visitors from around the world.
The plans from other cities in the running have greater flaws. Denver’s altitude would diminish the quality of matches, something that FIFA must avoid. Nashville and Cincinnati both have stadiums with a capacity under 63,000 and don’t have as good of a record in supporting soccer as Kansas City.
Kansas City remains the best option considering its location in the heart of America and the size of Arrowhead Stadium, along with all the other features that Kansas City offers visitors: from eating barbecue, to visiting a museum or seeing one of the many fountains.
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mfreer • Apr 9, 2021 at 4:43 pm
You know, Kansas City would be a great, great city to host the World Cup. With Seattle, it is one of the two capitals of soccer in the United States. The enthusiasm KC has for soccer (and barbeque) is infectious. But Kansas City, like Cincinnati has so many things going against it that it stands almost no chance when there are other options that are better and more accommodating. I hope you learn something while writing articles in the future- because yours has a lot of misinformation and shows signs everywhere of being poorly researched.
-There are many more issues with Kansas City not being suitable to host an event like this than just it’s lack of public transportation- which, considering that the airport- is 20 miles outside the city center and Arrowhead Stadium is 10 miles east of the city center is a huge downside. Getting a rental car, the only realistic way of getting around would be next to impossible, and if you can get a rental car- expensive. An event like this would only make rental car companies jack up prices- and Uber would be no different when it comes to taxi service.
-Kansas City is not getting a new airport- its existing airport is getting a new terminal. And what’s worse is that it is not a hub for any of the 3 major US airlines (Delta, American, United) or any of the low-cost ones, either (Southwest, JetBlue, Spirit), whereas Denver- a city you mentioned- is a major hub for United Airline and has a few foreign carriers going there as well.
-Kansas City does not have nearly enough hotel rooms- this is a clear indicator that Kansas City is really a city built primarily for the people who live there, and isn’t really built for large-scale
accomodation- and AirBnb doesn’t count. This is as big an issue as lack of public transportation- the Rose Bowl just outside Los Angeles is not served by public transportation (although there is a light rail station about a mile and a half away there in Pasadena) but LA is a city that has a metro area of (including OC and the Inland Empire) 18 million people and more hotels from cheap hostels to 5-star resorts.
-Denver’s altitude will not be an issue for players- this a seriously weak argument. Both of Mexico’s 2 favored cities- Mexico City and Guadalajara- are both higher than Denver- Mexico City is at 7,380 feet. When FIFA had the 1986 World Cup at a time where players were not as fit or healthy as they are now, they played games in Toluca- which is 8,760 feet high.
-Kansas City has pretty bad issues with crime, and unsuspecting foreigners who haven’t done their research might turn a wrong corner and get robbed, or worse.
-KC has never hosted a one-time event of even similar size- like the Super Bowl or WrestleMania- but you can put that down to weather issues, especially with the Super Bowl.
Subjective arguments like KC’s bad reputation for being a backwater cow-town, or the crippling heat and humidity in June and July (which would not be fair, as DC, which is very likely to get games has almost an exact similar climate to KC and would host them in an open-air stadium) I won’t go into further detail.
The cities that will most likely host are (Canada-Mexico-USA) Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, Guadalajara, MXC, Monterrey, Atlanta, Boston (Foxborough), Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York (which will likely host the final), San Francisco, Seattle, and DC. Another scenario that could play out is 2-12-2 and 5 games for each city. The city that would be eliminated is Montreal, because the Quebec provincial government has stated they will not back Montreal’s bid, because the expense to renovate the decrepit and barely used Olympic Stadium would not make sense, and Monterrey, because of the crippling heat there in June and July, which would be dangerous for players and fans in its open air stadium.
You know what’s been a tragedy? The fact that Chicago is not hosting. You can thank Rahm Emanuel, one of the worst Mayors
in that city’s history for that.