World Cup 2026 at Arrowhead?

[AlkaliAxel]

Be interesting to see how they schedule the Royals games around this also. They are still going to be at TSC in 2026 so will

We’ll see about that

[KCPowercat]

What an awesome reason to vacate in 26!

[GRID]

I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised that KC got selected. Some of the big name US Midwestern cities like Chicago and Minneapolis being out helped and put us on an island in terms of a geographical spread of cities. I think some of our perceived peers like Cincinnati seemed to get stuck as tweener type bids. Were they in the Central region? The Eastern? I was also surprised as some of the other cities with weaker infrastructure have stadiums in centralized locations which would have mitigated their problems with transit. The "culture" here was definitely a strong point. I am more convinced local people will go to games here than they would in cities like Nashville which is what they are looking for as some of the weaker games traditonally have had a ton of empty seats.

As I've said before on here, I'm not from here, I'm from the UK and I've been going to football/soccer matches all my life, club and international. I think about how this all goes depends on the matches we get - if its Slovakia v Costa Rica, Cameroon v Saudi Arabia, Peru v Romania type games we'll cope - I don't think we will get any games beyond the last 16 for starters. I have the fear of 30k England or Germany fans or the like scrambling to get back to DT or find places to drink. However you also want these teams as they will bring in the most fans but the infrastructure just now is not geared for it and I can see the onslaught from people I know moaning about this - "there was nowhere to drink near the stadium" "paid a fortune for ubers" etc etc. People in the UK go to local bars before games and often make their way there by public transit as stadiums are predominantly in urban areas. We aren't getting a rail system in four years to TSC (if ever) so what ultimately is going to need to happen is a constant stream of shuttle buses taking people to and from and pop bars and entertainment set up and I think theres going to need to be a temporary shuttle type service too from central areas in JC and the Airport which will get some of the overspill stayers who can't/won't pay DT/Plaza rates, but again this depends on the games we get to some extent. Very few if any are hiring a car and tailgating at Arrowhead. Arrowhead is designed for tailgating and tailgating to 90% of people I know is driving up someone's ass. Between all this and the Arrowhead alterations and the incentives to Fifa its a lot of spending. I also hope we don't take our eye off the small things - i.e. giving out free water to fans who are going to be drinking a lot in searing heat. I know people who went to the Europa League Final in Spain last month who ended up drinking out of sink taps in bathrooms.

Its great in that it raises the profile of the city/region. In my time being in KC, I've only ever met one ex-pat from Ireland, so its just not a city people from Europe would ever consider. Its not even a city you would pass on a tour or the like, i.e. route 66. About the only thing people I know, know about Kansas City is Patrick Mahomes.

I'd like to think it improves the chances of attraction Transatlantic flight service, regular. That worried me going in as all the other weaker bids like Baltimore, Nashville and Cincinnati all have that at the moment, Between getting this and the new terminal I'd like to think it gives a decent chance of a connection to LHR, CDG etc. This is a legacy goal of the event that should 100% be attainable and sustainable. Having to connect twice to get an affordable flight fare back to the UK is a major drag for me and likewise anyone visiting.

Be interesting to see how they schedule the Royals games around this also. They are still going to be at TSC in 2026 so will need to be creative there.

Also a minor point, going to need to make sure people know the stadium is in Kansas City, Missouri, Not KCKS.

Great post. My point all along is not building rail to the stadium, but just cleaning the city up. A lot of KC can't be cleaned up in time like I-70 east of downtown or 40 Highway etc, but why can't the area around the stadiums be less of an eyesore?

We went to an event at Allianz Stadium in Munich and it's very much in a location similar to Arrowhead far from the city center near highways and industry (albeit it near a major train station with nearly all parking underground but we can't fix that in KC). Yet it was still a pleasant area. It didn't look run down etc. The highways and roads in the area were well maintained with no trash, lots of lush landscaping everywhere. It was just a nice clean well maintained area that left a good impression.

The area around the arrowhead stadium is shitty as hell. It's bad enough that people will see the worst of KC while enroute to the stadium, but why does the area around the stadium have to suck so much? I keep mentioning the adams mark, but if nothing is done, that thing will look absolutely terrible by 2026 and it dominates that area.

[GRID]

What an awesome reason to vacate in 26!

So true, they need to make it a main reason to get it done sooner rather than later.

[WoodDraw]

They really need to figure it out now. The royals could play games in Omaha for a bit. Or just ask to have games suspended at home. Or schedule the break.

There will be many disruptions.

[Highlander]

They really need to figure it out now. The royals could play games in Omaha for a bit. Or just ask to have games suspended at home. Or schedule the break.

There will be many disruptions.

How many world cup matches will be at Arrowhead and over what period of time? Seems like MLB could just schedule the Royals to play road games through those dates.

[shinatoo]

They really need to figure it out now. The royals could play games in Omaha for a bit. Or just ask to have games suspended at home. Or schedule the break.

There will be many disruptions.

If the games are in June Omaha will be tough. I guess they could coordinate with the Storm Chasers.

[GRID]

They really need to figure it out now. The royals could play games in Omaha for a bit. Or just ask to have games suspended at home. Or schedule the break.

There will be many disruptions.

How many world cup matches will be at Arrowhead and over what period of time? Seems like MLB could just schedule the Royals to play road games through those dates.

Wouldn't it neat if they didn't have to and the Royals were playing downtown a few days during the world cup? Downtown kc would be amazing.

[earthling]

If Royals stadium is completed downtown by 2026 expect it to be a Butler warehouse building shaped like a faux stadium, with some highs school grade bleachers thrown in.

[DaveKCMO]

Maybe we can finally get trash cans in the crossroads? I know I'm dreaming big but these are big times my friends.

Good luck. There's no plan to replace the ones that went away unless the neighborhood taxes itself with a CID.

[WoodDraw]

Everything is so much fun if you don't have to raise any money. Or pay people to design and build things.

Grid you're from DC where you can barely move a truck down the street without two years of planning. The whole reason you don't have wc games is because you're so disastrous at this. Some humility to what we're dealing with is appropriate.

[earthling]

^True dat. KC will represent the Midwest and Midwest has some perhaps undesirable grit aspect to it for some. Improve what the City is capable of but otherwise own it. I've been by shanty towns outside Santiago Chile and Guatemala and found it curious understanding the context of their world. World Cup has been held across South Africa and other parts of world with similar shanty towns, it is what it is and people get the context.

In KC's case, own what you are, don't be embarrassed by _anything_ no matter what shit is stirred up by an outsider who hasn't lived in KC for over a decade. It's getting tiring, the trolling that KC is failing because it can't keep up with XYZ hot city.

[GRID]

Everything is so much fun if you don't have to raise any money. Or pay people to design and build things.

Grid you're from DC where you can barely move a truck down the street without two years of planning. The whole reason you don't have wc games is because you're so disastrous at this. Some humility to what we're dealing with is appropriate.

Trust me. DC is worse at everything than KC. And I think having the Federal Government in the way is worse than the state line issues in KC.

The only reason DC remotely gets a pass is because it is the capital and they can get away with a lot of stuff and still remain extremely relevant, but yeah, they fail more often then not. I will give DC credit on their bicycle infrastructure though. They are getting that right.

My heart is still in KC so I care more about KC than DC. Which means I can often be harder on KC than DC I guess.

[WoodDraw]

Maybe we can finally get trash cans in the crossroads? I know I'm dreaming big but these are big times my friends.

Good luck. There's no plan to replace the ones that went away unless the neighborhood taxes itself with a CID.

I have so many angry comments to say about this, but I'll resist. There are like 8 dumpsters right off main st though where I live. But no trash or recycling bins. On the street.

Please continue to use the suffice parking lots.

[AlkaliAxel]

Here’s the thing- if the Royals are admitting they’re looking at opening in 2026 downtown even before the WC announcement, then that means there is some sort of path they believe they can take to get it done. My guess is they’ve done alot already we don’t know about it. They wouldn’t have floated opening day 2026 unless they saw a viable path.

[chingon]

Right. Reading all the comments on social media right now from KC people is annoying. KC people are so delirious. Not only does the city really need to find a way to get some major improvements done to infrastructure and hotels etc, but KC people have got to stop thinking areas like Village West will be impressive to soccer fans from other parts of the country let alone the world.

KC needs to make the River Crown Plaza corridor shine and clean up the area around Arrowhead. Even the drive from downtown to the TSC is pretty depressing. I hope KC can spruce things up.

JFC, what an old act.

What's wrong with impressing visitors. KCMO is a cool city that I think does impress most people. The central urban part of KCMO. The rest of metro KC? Not at all. What's wrong with thinking that tourists will enjoy KC more if they are not pushed to places like Village West?

And there is also nothing wrong with a big push to get things spruced up around the city. Any city that would host an event like this would spending tens of millions on just basic stuff like making sure key parts of town look good and don't have crumbling streets, sidewalks etc. Maybe KC has a plan for that. I'm just saying I hope they do. And that includes the area around the stadium. If they know Arrowhead is staying or a new stadium is going in there, then why not push for a redevelopment of the adams mark, install new sidewalks and landscaping in the area etc. It looks and feels so crummy around the stadiums.

I mean there is enough time to make I-70 or other routes from the city to the stadiums look less ghetto. 70 looks like hell east of downtown like it has not been improved since the 1960's. If Modot has a plan, get them to expedite it.

I really don't get why this is so insulting.

Fair enough, but there's another side to that coin. I myself can't imagine being impressed by Village West, but wtf do I know? I once had to drive 2 people from New York City around, for reasons that don't bear explaining, through KC worst ghettos, and I kind of embarrassingly apologized, and they were both astounded and had thought we were driving through pretty nice working or middle class neighborhoods and couldn't believe poor people in KC lived in huge, awesome single family houses. I had cousins from abroad here once and you would not believe the lists of places they wanted to go: Cabelas, a race at the speedway, a drive in movie, fast food places, etc. They raved about the blandest KC suburban shit you could imagine: lawns, cul-de-sacs, highways, gas stations.

You, in particular, because you know KC's best, coolest stuff, are unreasonably ashamed of all the normal, boring, unremarkable stuff about it. Everyone doesn't feel that way. And I'm not much on apologizing for KC's flaws, or even feeling some kind of twisted responsibility or shame for them. A lot of people here like it, and a lot of them like it because of things I don't like.

Another example that I think is illustrative: one time my spouse was giving a talk at the University of Leeds, and we had been roadtripping through Great Britain for a couple months before hand, which she told the students. During Q&A, one of the students asked her what her favorite part of the trip was and she said our time in Wales and the room erupted into undisguised disgust. One student stood up and stormed out, huffing. We had though it was incredible, basically undiscovered from a tourist perspective, and a kind of weird wonderland, and the people who lived 2 hours from the region thought it was a backwater full of misshapen louts that they were ashamed to have colonized.

[chingon]

Also what are you guys on about with Denver and Nashville? Of course they are busier and more bustling than KC. Those are not peer cities. Denver is almost twice the size of KC. The difference between them is about the same as the difference between Denver and DC or Philly. And Nashville is not a city. It's a theme-park. Disneyland has a lot more bustle than Savannah, but...who gives a fuck.

[KCPowercat]

We beat them both who cares the size!

[Anthony_Hugo98]

We beat them both who cares the size!

That’s what my wife always tells me too..

[TheLastGentleman]

Denver is almost twice the size of KC.

Hm?