Here’s what hosting the men’s FIFA World Cup in 2026 will mean for Sporting Kansas City

Mexican Pop Star Becky G could barely utter the word “Kansas” before the Power & Light District erupted in euphoria on Thursday. Hearing Kansas City’s name called in that moment as a FIFA World Cup host city for 2026 set in motion a whirlwind of emotions ... and hope.

The opportunity to host games in soccer’s international showcase will make Kansas City the face of the Midwest worldwide.

“I don’t know of a better city to represent the Midwest,” Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes said.

For much of the next four years, conversations around hosting the men’s World Cup in 2026 will be about more than soccer. They’ll be about transportation, hotels and so much more.

But when all the preparation is done, and the eyes of the world are on KC, it’s going to be all about soccer.

“For soccer, there’s nothing bigger, right?” said Sporting KC president and CEO Jake Reid. “We’ve had MLS Cup, we’ve had the All-Star game, we’ve had all the major tournaments you can have. This is just a different level.”

Billions of people will watch every match. The cities in which those matches are played will forever be tied to the moments that take place within them.

The World Cup offers exposure like no other sporting event on the planet.

“To have the spotlight of the world on Kansas City for that month is going to be just so incredible for all of us,” Reid said.

Both Vermes and Reid found it hard to quantify the impact that playing host to World Cup games will have on the club. But Vermes took a stab at it Friday.

Kansas City is, at most, a four-hour flight from other host cities in the 2026 tournament. Its central location and multiple quality facilities make KC an attractive training base for teams that have qualified.

“They’ll do their preparation prior to the World Cup beginning,” Vermes said. “They’ll probably play games against other national teams that actually didn’t qualify for the World Cup, and so those fans will come here as well.”

“A lot of people are going to get very familiar with what Kansas City has to offer and the fantastic hospitality and people of the area.”

Indeed, they’ll get acquainted with what Kansas City represents on many fronts, soccer included. Vermes cited the transformation of the local soccer community since current ownership purchased the then-Kansas City Wizards in 2006.

Sporting KC has struggled this season, but news that Kansas City will be hosting World Cup games could mark a turning point. Sporting has seen benefits from two other milestone events in the last 10 years or so: the opening of state-of-the-art Children’s Mercy Park in 2011 and the Compass Minerals National Performance Center in 2018.

In both instances, Sporting was not reacting to market trends across Major League Soccer, but creating them. Venues designed and built after Sporting KC’s new soccer-specific stadium followed Kansas City’s lead, as did a wave of souped-up training facilities constructed by clubs from coast to coast.

“When they see our facilities, our infrastructure, all the things we have to offer, it’ll just open us up to hopefully a whole group of players that maybe we have not had the opportunity to recruit or bring into the club,” Vermes said.

Vermes and Sporting KC are proud of Kansas City’s soccer culture, which thrives in spite of KC’s smaller market size.

“In my opinion,” Vermes said, “it’s going to be a huge injection, not only of people recognizing who Kansas City is, but I believe they will then leave and go tell people what a great place this is.”

This story was originally published June 19, 2022 at 12:36 PM with the headline "Here’s what hosting the men’s FIFA World Cup in 2026 will mean for Sporting Kansas City."