KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
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FIFA World Cup 26 arrives in Kansas City in less than a year, but it may be time to light a lantern in Old North Church. Unlike Paul Revere’s famous ride, this English invasion would be a welcome one.
“If England played here, it would be nuts,” said Lenexa resident Chris Thomas, who was born and raised in Yorkshire, England.
Thomas came to the U.S. in 2007 on a college soccer scholarship at Lambuth University in Tennessee. He married his college sweetheart, Lizzie, and spent the next 12 years on the West Coast before moving to Kansas City, his wife’s hometown.
After getting laid off last Christmas, Thomas started Brit Boy Street Food in March, giving his adopted home a taste of his native England.
“I just love bringing people together and, really, what better way to do that than with food,” Thomas said. “When life gives you lemons, you really do make lemonade.”
Or in Thomas’ case, British pies and sausage rolls.
“I've always been a cook,” Thomas said. “My mum's a home economics teacher back in England, so I’ve got to say, she's inspired me. We always had a home-cooked meal even after a long day's work.”
He hopes Kansas City is ready to embrace hosting six World Cup games next summer.
“They've had a taste of it because of how good the Chiefs have been, Mahomes Magic and what he's been able to do, so they've had a taste of it, but I think they're going to be shocked,” Thomas said.
With news that the Three Lions, a nickname for England’s revered national team, are in serious talks to make Kansas City their base camp for next summer’s World Cup, according to The Telegraph, Thomas hopes for another taste of home in the Heartland.
“Brit Boy aside, I've never been to a World Cup,” Thomas said. “... I've not been fortunate enough to attend one yet. But if they played 20 miles away from here and were based here, I mean, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Kansas City has three possible base-camp sites — Compass Minerals National Performance Center, which serves as Sporting Kansas City’s training ground; The University of Kansas Health System Training Center, which is home to the Kansas City Current; and Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence, where the Jayhawks play.
Sporting KC’s practice facility, which also houses the U.S. Soccer National Coaching Education Center, has drawn interest from multiple European soccer powers, including Germany, and should attract one of the world’s top teams for a long-term stay next summer.
Count Thomas among those hoping England and its new national team manager, Thomas Tuchel, picks Kansas City, providing “The Soccer Capital of America” a chance to gain a deeper understanding of the beautiful game’s importance in its original country.
“It’s definitely a religion (in England),” Thomas said. “You book your week around it. It brings people together. England's built on local communities that get together after work, on weekends, and football brings them together.”
Thomas learned a harsh lesson about the loyalty of English football fans as a child, where he grew up as a Manchester United fan out of place in Yorkshire.
“I was getting bullied in school when I was 11 years old,” he said. “I'm a Manchester United fan and everyone around me supports Leeds (United).”
That’s why Thomas sheepishly asked his dad if he could change allegiances to fit in at school.
“Very stoically — cool, calm, collected — he said, ‘OK, you're getting older; you're starting to make your own decisions. Do you want to find somewhere else to live?” Thomas recalled. “I was 11, so I said no. Obviously, I stuck with Manchester.”
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