Lee’s Summit eyes World Cup events as ‘showcase’ for new downtown market
Lee’s Summit city officials have signaled they plan to commit as much as $50,000 to a series of World Cup events this summer.
City Council members approved a funding request from LSGOAL26, the volunteer group that is organizing World Cup activities in the city, at their meeting Tuesday night and forwarded the item on to a second reading at a future meeting.
The group’s “Futbol Fridays” will be held on select days at the city’s new Green Street market in June and July during World Cup play.
The themed events, which are scheduled for June 12, 19, 26 and July 3 and 10 during the tournament, will have live broadcasts of games and other activities. Funds would go toward things like activities for kids and adults, entertainment and decor. Organizers have proposed attractions like food trucks, line dancing lessons, inflatables, photo ops, giant board games and live music.
One of the board members with the World Cup committee, Jon Ellis, said: “Our goal is to really break even on this whole thing and make it to where it’s an event that we’re showing off downtown, especially Green Street marketplace, and show all the different things that can be done down there.”
Arrowhead Stadium will host four group-stage games in June and a pair of knockout-round games in July. The National WWI Museum and Memorial will host Kansas City’s larger Fan Festival, which will host screenings of matches and offer food and drinks and interactive fan experiences.
“We were also trying to figure out ways for people to take a break from all of that Fan Fest and the hysteria from downtown and all of those things, and have a place that they can bring their kids, enjoy the evening and then also wanting to make sure that we’re we’re allowing our residents to have that experience as well,” said Donna Lake, assistant city manager and a board member with the World Cup group. “If they don’t want to travel into Fan Fest or whatever, they can still feel that excitement about the events.”
Officials with LSGOAL26 indicated earlier that fees to show World Cup games at the events could cost more than $50,000, but said Tuesday they had learned the price would be $1,000.
“The reason for that is Fox and Telemundo (which own U.S. broadcasting rights for the World Cup) are doing a good thing in today’s world,” said Laura Maxwell, another of LSGOAL26’s board members. “You don’t hear a lot about positivity, but instead of charging exorbitant amounts, they’re charging organizations like ours just $1,000 to show them all, and then they’re taking all those funds raised and distributing it to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, which is pretty cool.”
Mayor Pro Tem Beto Lopez hailed the event as exactly what those who shaped the Green Street market, which opened last summer after years of work, were looking for as they planned the space.
“This is a perfect opportunity for us as a community to showcase what in a lot of commercial areas or retail centers, that’s an anchor,” he said. “It’s like a major anchor tenant for the city that will bring people from all over, hopefully all of our residents, but people from all over come and spend time in our downtown. That’s what it was all about, and that’s what this is all about.”
For more information about the events, visit lsgoal26.org/futbol-fridays.
