FIFA wanted a centrally located U.S. city with transit, hotels, soccer fans and an NFL-sized stadium. Chicago fit the profile but chose not to pursue hosting duties, leaving Kansas City to claim the Midwest spotlight instead.
We’ve discussed our issues with that problematic decision before. And when this page checked in with Kansas City, we heard no regrets from the Paris of the Plains about signing the deal that Chicago had every opportunity to make its own.
At this month’s IPW international travel conference, where Illinois’ tourism promoters were reminding people repeatedly about Route 66 turning 100, Kansas City was touting the big event that will make headlines around the world this summer. “The city’s ready,” Devin Aaron, spokesman for Visit KC, told us. “This is the biggest thing Kansas City has ever hosted, and we want to knock it out of the park.”
Kansas City sold itself as America’s most enthusiastic soccer capital, and the hype has become self-fulfilling. National teams from England, Argentina, the Netherlands and Algeria, packed with glamorous star players, picked the Kansas City area over more populous cities for their “base camps.”
These homes-away-from-home pair a team with a designated training facility and secure hotel, putting Kansas City in a global spotlight. Kansas City hopes its free viewing festival will become one of the tournament’s marquee fan experiences. New York and other host cities will have to work to outdo what some city slickers might dismiss as a cow town.
Kansas City has invested for years in soccer facilities, but it has limitations. A couple of hundred extra buses are being called into service to compensate for weak public transit. Hotels in some cases jacked up rates beyond reason, then complained when ticket holders booked rooms in surrounding communities instead. Ticket prices have been sky-high, though in some cases lower in the resale market. Federal officials have put up money for security and transit improvements at host cities, but the amounts so far have been relatively modest.
The biggest concern has nothing to do with Kansas City. Among foreign soccer fans who want to attend U.S. games, word has spread that a nightmare may await because of harsh travel policies from President Donald Trump’s administration.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, for instance, has proposed reviewing the social-media and extended-family backgrounds of foreign visitors. The president’s travel bans, meantime, have targeted soccer-crazed countries across Africa and the Middle East.
At the IPW travel conference, special presidential envoy Nick Adams said, “There’s nothing I’ve said in the past that is harmful,” even as he bashed the concerns of potential foreign visitors as “total and utter nonsense” and “myths.” All foreign tourists need to do, he said, is “follow our rules, follow our laws, and you’ll be welcome.”
Foreign travel to the U.S. has declined since Trump’s second term began last year, though many of the losses stem from one country. The president offended Canadians by attacking them in his trade wars and describing their country as a potential 51st state. Travel to the U.S. from Canada plunged 22% last year, according to the U.S. Travel Association, whose leader, Geoff Freeman, admits, “We’ve got work to do to re-earn their trust and let them know America wants them.”
At least Kansas City wants them, and other soccer fans from abroad. We’re also hoping that Chicago’s many soccer fans, recently rewarded with the news of a privately funded stadium in the works for the Chicago Fire soccer team, will get to safely enjoy the games despite needing to head out of town to experience them.
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