The Royals are making a small MLB Draft adjustment because of the World Cup
The Royals’ draft room at Kauffman Stadium will sit empty this weekend, despite the MLB Draft beginning Saturday.
Blame it on Lionel Messi.
Well, it’s not really Messi’s fault, but because his Argentina team plays in the World Cup quarterfinal at Kansas City Stadium (née Arrowhead) on Saturday, the logistics of working out of Kauffman Stadium were impossible for the Royals.
Instead, the Royals’ executives and scouts will convene in Surprise, Arizona, at the team’s spring-training home.
“We have a draft room here, (but) we can’t be here,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo said. “There’s a (World Cup) game on July 11, and our draft is July 11, so we couldn’t be in our draft room that day.”
There is a large swath of security around Arrowhead Stadium because of the World Cup, so even when there aren’t matches, draft preparation is affected.
“All the days leading up to the draft, there would be days impacted by the World Cup, so we just decided to move it to Arizona, just for simplicity of not having to worry about logistics, dancing around the World Cup,” Picollo said.
This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 8:59 AM.
