KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Share your story idea with Lily.
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Lawrence and Douglas County agencies recently launched a website dedicated to keep the community updated on 2026 FIFA World Cup news.
Lawrence 2026 — comprised of members from the City of Lawrence, Douglas County, University of Kansas, Explore Lawrence, and the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce — meet regularly to prepare for the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches in Kansas City.
Lawrence is expecting thousands of visitors during the 2026 summer and it's possible the city could serve as a base camp for a team.
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"Residents have a lot of questions," said Ruth DeWitt, director of community relations with Explore Lawrence.
I went to Massachusetts Street on Wednesday to speak with residents about their questions regarding the World Cup. I brought those questions directly to DeWitt and Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations for the University of Kansas. Both are involved with Lawrence 2026.
Emily Ward is a Kansas City Current fan and has lived in Lawrence for the past five years. She plans on traveling to the Fan Fest at Kansas City's WWI Museum and Memorial's south lawn to watch the matches in Kansas City.
She said she never thought about watch parties or a similar Fan Fest experience in Lawrence, so I asked DeWitt about it.
"We're working on that," she said. "Some details we have to figure out around that. I mean, that's just a Lawrence thing. We've celebrated national championships, and we just love to be out in the street celebrating."
Ward is also interested in learning more about a shuttle that will transport fans from Lawrence's Central Station to Kansas City's Fan Fest.
"At this point, the bus service is really going to be one of the best ways to go," DeWitt said.
The bus shuttle from Lawrence's Central Station to Kansas City's Fan Fest would take about 50 minutes and fans wouldn't have to deal with parking. DeWitt said the shuttles will be transporting fans every 30 minutes. Prices for the shuttle have yet to be determined.
"Are they going to get the construction work done in time? I know we have some big projects going on in town," Copper Ramberg, a Lawrence resident, said.
DeWitt said Lawrence's municipal services and infrastructure branch is involved in regular meetings with Lawrence 2026.
"We do have one giant project on 9th Street that will likely be ongoing, but we have detours around that and we know that we need to get visitors and residents around that project," DeWitt said.
Alex Hamilton lives and works in Lawrence. He said he doesn't have any questions, but he's looking forward to schedules changing.
"People around the world don't eat dinner at 5 o'clock and 6 o'clock," he said. "I mean, they eat late."
DeWitt said Lawrence's restaurant and bar association are looking into those cultural differences, and said "there could very likely be schedule changes for sure."
"Is the police presence going to be beefed up?" Lawrence resident Matt Foerschler asked.
DeWitt said the Lawrence, Kansas, Police Department is part of Lawrence 2026's conversations.
"They're doing really, really serious work in terms of our emergency management and police response," DeWitt said.
Some questions can't be answered yet, like the one most people are wondering: Will Lawrence be a base camp for a team?
"We all want to know," DeWitt said. "That is the question is when do we find out, which is toward the end of January."
Lawrence 2026 will post updates to its website as more information becomes available.
"It's really designed to be flexible like that," Barcomb-Peterson said.
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