There’s one big reason why World Cup teams will covet Kansas City as a base camp
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- FIFA lists three Kansas City area base camps and seven teams at Arrowhead.
- Federations must list top-5 base-camp choices by Jan. 5; FIFA assigns sites.
- Kansas City offers three-hour flight access to 32 of 48 team clusters, boosting bids.
When FIFA revealed the schedule for the 2026 World Cup, we learned that seven teams will be playing at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
But three more nations might be making their way to Kansas City before the games begin.
Teams are starting to sift through options of where they want to train for the World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada. FIFA’s website shows 64 possible base camp locations.
Three are in the Kansas City area: Sporting Kansas City’s training facility, the Current’s training facility and Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence.
Pam Kramer, president of KC2026, shared the timetable for nations to pick their base camp.
“The (soccer) federations were all in Washington, D.C., for the final draw,” Kramer said. “They had meetings (Saturday) with FIFA, and between now and Jan. 5, they will need to determine their top-5 choices for team base camps. That may involve visits or revisits to Kansas City. We’ve already seen scheduling of some of those today.
“We are in a great position from a base-camp standpoint. FIFA has given the teams guidance based on clusters. So depending on where your group-stage matches are, you are affiliated with certain clusters. Thirty-two of the 48 teams can choose Kansas City as a potential base-camp location.”
After making their five preferred choices, FIFA will settle any overlapping requests for a specific base camp. By the end of January, FIFA will assign the base-camp locations, but they won’t be announced until after the final six teams have qualified from the March playoffs.
Kramer said some of the seven teams that will play group-stage matches in Kansas City have already visited the base camps here, but she declined to reveal which ones.
KC is a top choice
Like real estate, World Cup base-camp locations come down to three factors: location, location, location.
It’s why Kansas City is an appealing choice for World Cup teams.
“For us, we’re in a great position because of our geography,” Kramer said. “We are within the acceptable flying time to 32 of the 48 team pods. So we have a really good opportunity there.”
That “acceptable flying time” from FIFA is three hours, Kramer noted. The Lawrence base camp also has easy access to the Topeka airport.
The heat in June also will help teams acclimate to temperatures and humidity they might face in a game.
Plus Kansas City and Lawrence have excellent facilities for soccer teams.
Appeal of base camps
As The Star’s Shreyas Laddha reported, officials from England, Germany, Colombia and South Korea have visited Lawrence ahead of the World Cup.
The benefit to Kansas City and Lawrence in having a nation pick a base camp here is who will come with the team. There will be soccer federation big-wigs, journalists, fans and possibly some elected officials.
That can result in a solid economic impact.
