People, not politics, will be the face of Kansas City’s World Cup experience
As he addressed those attending a U.S. Travel/Visit KC sports tourism panel discussion Tuesday morning at the Loews Hotel, Argentine Ambassador to the United States Alejandro Oxenford couldn’t help anticipating the moment at hand: defending FIFA World Cup champion Argentina bracing to play Algeria less than 12 hours later.
“If I seem distracted today, it’s not you,” he said, smiling. “It’s (that) I’m thinking about (Lionel) Messi.”
Just the same, Oxenford still had the presence of mind to note how Kansas City “in some strange way feels very much like home to me.”
That’s partly because the greenery reminds him of the outskirts of Buenos Aires, partly because he’s seen so many Argentine families walking around Kansas City with big smiles ... and partly because he already feels a deeper and broader connection.
So much so that he summoned to his point a quote from famed psychiatrist Carl Jung: “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances. If there is any reaction, both are transformed.”
He added, “Both will be transformed, and I think it will be a very positive transformation.”
To a certain degree, anyway, that dynamic figures to be true around the nation with 11 U.S. cities among the 16 North American host sites.
And it makes for a great reminder that the soul of a nation still is different than what its politics might imply regardless of what side of the aisle you’re on.
Take it from Missouri’s Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, a panelist Tuesday at the event moderated by Visit KC and Kansas City Sports Commission leader Kathy Nelson:
“As you know, sports transcends politics, and that’s a good thing,” Kehoe said. “Our country’s way too political, way too divided. But one thing we agree on is what sports can do for our country.”
And take it from Geoff Freeman, the president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association who noted that even as global international travel is up 10% in the last year, international travel to the U.S. is down 5% for what he called a variety of reasons:
“With respect to the politicians in the room,” he said, “it’s beautiful to realize we don’t have to rely on politicians to be the face of America but for Americans to be the face of America.”
In many ways, Kansas City is the quintessential example of that as the smallest U.S. host with the lowest international profile — yet earning six games here, including a quarterfinal, and drawing four nations to the region for base camps:
Argentina, England and the Netherlands are training and staying in the metro area. Algeria is in Lawrence, where the local embrace has been the very epitome of both the World Cup’s intended spirit and what we’d hope to project about living here.
It’s part of what local politicians, Visit KC and KC2026 hope is traction towards transforming Kansas City and the region from so-called “flyover country” to a destination location.
Starting with Kansas City International Airport being so uniquely festooned in FIFA imagery, Freeman said, “You feel like you’re stepping into the World Cup.”
“Let’s be honest: the Algerians, Argentinians, Dutch that are coming to Kansas City, many of them would have been unlikely to come to Kansas City were it not for the World Cup,” Freeman said in an interview with The Star after the panel discussion. “The opportunity in Kansas City is different than the opportunity in New York or Los Angeles. This is a destination that, for some of these travelers, is more undiscovered.
“So it’s an opportunity for the people of Kansas, the people of Missouri, the people of Kansas City, to give people a first impression of what the Midwest is like, what this destination is like and what the people are like here.”
Put another way:
“Places are people, and people are places,” said Luisa Mendoza, the founder and CEO of Global Tourism Sports & Entertainment. “And people are what makes a place come to life. And Kansas City has the best people that (are) going to welcome them with such warm arms.”
Well before the first game played here, that’s been demonstrably true in a place that is backing up its self-proclaimed status as the Soccer Capital of America in about every way — including being the nation’s No. 1 TV market for the USMNT’s opener last week and vibrant Fan Fest crowds.
Consider the overwhelming scenes of thousands of Argentines in Mill Creek Park and the Crossroads Arts District on Monday night, the greeting for the English team at Swope Park and the Netherlands in Riverside and beyond. Most poignantly of all, the Algerians in Lawrence and at the University of Kansas — and at Union Station on Monday and surely at “Kansas City Stadium” (Arrowhead) Tuesday night.
“The KU band learning the Algeria national anthem, watching the Argentinians in (the Country Club) Plaza, knowing what’s coming with the orange bus and the Dutch, right?” Freeman said. “Yes, I think you can take away how this city has uniquely embraced (the World Cup). …
“You’re not competing with 100 other events, like you might be in L.A. or New York. This city’s been taken over by the World Cup.”
Enabling those teams and their fans staying here, he added, to get a glimpse of what distinguishes us most.
“They’ve seen what makes this market unique, and to see the locals rise to that occasion, to be so welcoming, to want to show off,” Freeman said. “And I think we’re only on the beginning end of that, right? I think we’re in the very early stages of the buzz really taking off.”
Especially if the welcoming early trends, and their resonance, continue as anticipated.
“As the famous quote says: People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel,” Mendoza said. “And when people come here and they experience that, they’re going to come back for the jazz (and) and the barbecue but, most importantly, for the people that are here.”
Even when they might be a bit preoccupied with the actual matches.
“This is a very important moment for us,” Oxenford said. “We are very happy to share this with you in Kansas.”
Kansas. Missouri.
Call us what you will, because it’s still all Kansas City, ultimately, with the world coming here, leaving their own marks on us and taking a bit of us back with them.
“Memory by memory, people will remember this,” Oxenford said.
They’ll tell their children, and their grandchildren, he added, “I was there” — and share what it meant to them.
“That’s the relevance of this kind of event,” he said. “So I believe we are living, we will be living, one of those very special moments. Those moments that we will remember for a very long time.”
Making for a very positive transformation.