How the Chiefs’ owner became a driving force in Kansas City’s World Cup status
When Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt projects the atmosphere in Kansas City for the FIFA World Cup that arrives in North America next month, he draws from a deep well of experience.
In 1974 at age 9, Hunt attended his first World Cup, in West Germany, with his family. Four years later, Hunt’s father and Chiefs founder Lamar missed the event, but the Hunts resumed their fan participation for the following World Cup in Spain.
Clark Hunt, 61, hasn’t missed a World Cup since, 11 straight and 12 in all. Sometimes for the final but not always. He’s tried to attend every game played by the United States.
Although some imagination is required to wonder how the world’s largest sporting event will unfold in the smallest U.S. city to host World Cup games, Hunt’s crystal ball is clearer than most.
“I think the citizens of Kansas City are going to be shocked in a good way by the number of tourists and the celebration that will take place over the course of the tournament,” Hunt told The Star. “It will be very common to see fans from whichever country at a restaurant singing and playing music and cheering their team on.”
That is what the Hunts experienced on their World Cup trips to all corners of the globe, and Kansas City could be better positioned for those types of celebrations than other host cities. It’s the only city among 16 that will be the site for three base camps among teams ranked in the FIFA top 10.
Argentina is third, England fourth and the Netherlands seventh. Those countries and their fans are expected to call Kansas City home for the summer. Additionally, Algeria is setting up its base camp in Lawrence.
Kansas City has estimated some 650,000 visitors for World Cup festivities, although that figure by FIFA and Visit KC has come under scrutiny.
Still, Hunt expects a good show in the self-proclaimed “soccer capital of America.”
“That’s just the flavor of the World Cup,” Hunt said. “One of the great things is the blending of cultures from around the world and getting to experience that when you’re in a city where World Cup games take place.”
Clark’s father, Lamar Hunt, discovered that passion decades ago after watching the broadcast of the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley Stadium. He marveled at the spectacle as England brought home the championship.
The AFL founder — owner of the Dallas Texans before the franchise moved to Kansas City — and the league’s guide through the pro football merger, Lamar Hunt was taken aback by soccer’s international popularity. Some 400 million globally had watched the final, the first time World Cup matches had been broadcast via satellite to other continents.
“He was captivated by the passion of the fans,” Clark Hunt said. “And he also recognized that stadiums and the field looked a little bit like the stadiums and fields that he was helping build for the American Football League. And because of that he thought it was a great opportunity to bring the sport to the U.S. He envisioned playing games when the Texans or Chiefs and other AFL teams weren’t playing.
Lamar Hunt became an investor in the Dallas Tornados of the North American Soccer League in 1967 and owned the team for more than a decade. He also became a founding investor in Major League Soccer (MLS).
Clark carved his own path on the pitch. He was a four-year letter winner on SMU’s nationally ranked-program, and a two-time Academic All-American.
“I’ve often said I was sort of the first wave of youth players to play in any time of significant numbers in the city of Dallas,” Hunt said.
That happened because the Dallas Tornados were made up of British players who needed jobs in the offseason. They ran camps and clinics that included a young Clark Hunt.
After college, Clark Hunt spent two years as an investment banker before working with his father, and one of his first jobs was to help get MLS — created in the aftermath of the U.S.-hosted 1994 World Cup — up and running.
“The effort to create Major League Soccer was underway, and so he drafted me, I like to say, to work on the business plan,” Hunt said.
In addition to helping organize the league, the Hunts, at one point, owned three teams, in Dallas, Columbus, Ohio, and Kansas City. The Wiz, and later the Wizards, played at Arrowhead Stadium.
“So I was a little bit involved with the Chiefs, but I was very involved with Major League Soccer,” Hunt said.
The Hunts eventually sold the Kansas City team that became Sporting KC, and the Columbus Crew. Clark Hunt remains Chairman and CEO of FC Dallas with his brother Dan serving as the president.
Now the Hunts are on the verge of their biggest soccer moment with World Cup games set for Kansas City and Dallas. A quarterfinal game will be the last of six played at Arrowhead. A semifinal match will conclude the action at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Dallas, which played host to World Cup games in 1994, seemed destined to be selected again. Kansas City? It likely wouldn’t have happened without the advocacy and investment by the Hunts.
“When we knew that the World Cup was coming to the U.S. and cities were bidding to become a host city, it definitely wasn’t a certainty,” Hunt said. “However, Kansas City had a lot going for it. First of all, we’ve had some big events here, including a World Series, MLB All-Star Game, Sporting KC hosted an MLS Cup.
“So there was very much a soccer DNA and a history of success here. I think all of that was helpful and convinced FIFA to come.”