KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County, including Independence. Share your story idea with Tod.
—
When the world’s soccer-playing nations convene for the 76th annual FIFA Congress next month in Vancouver, the 2031 Women’s World Cup should be awarded to the U.S. as part of a joint bid with Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica.
Without a competing bid, it’s considered a formality that the CONCACAF-led bid will move forward — and that might lead to more World Cup games in Kansas City.
“I think that would be amazing,” Megan Garcia said. “For a city that has embraced women's sports and the Kansas City Current so tightly, we would love to see other women's sports, other countries, come here to work with us.”
Garcia was among the hundreds of people who gathered Wednesday at Union Station for the second annual KC Current Kickoff Luncheon, sponsored by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.
“Kansas City understands something powerful,” Chamber CEO Joe Reardon said. “Women’s professional sports are not a side story. They are an economic driver and a competitive advantage for our region.”
Kansas City is one of 14 U.S. cities included in the 2031 Bid Book as a possible host city for the women’s tournament in five years.
“We’re proving a lot just with World Cup 2026, but I think the entire Kansas City region is electrified by the fact that we’re a world leader in women’s professional soccer,” Reardon said. “There’s no doubt about it. I think FIFA saw that when they did the visit for ‘26 and we’re pretty bullish about trying to attract the events, like the Women’s World Cup, here, because of the great assets that we have.”
Six other cities chosen to host FIFA World Cup 26 games — Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and New York/New Jersey — also are part of the 2031 bid along with San Diego, Denver, Minneapolis, Nashville, Washington D.C., Charlotte and Orlando.
Kathy Nelson, who serves as president and CEO of both Visit KC and the Kansas City Sports Commission, is bullish about Kansas City’s chances, too.
“We've had great conversations, even at a state level, about what does this mean, and I think what's great is the Chiefs, the Royals, Sporting KC, the KC Current — everyone's like, how do we get this done?” Nelson said. “We're all learning even more and more with the World Cup in 26 and how to work together.”
But there is a small complication that could impact Kansas City’s hopes.
Uncertainty surrounding issues at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, which will be replaced in 2027, helped sink the Music City’s bid.
The Chiefs announced plans to abandon GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, which will host six games in the upcoming Men’s World Cup, in January 2031 and build a new stadium in Kansas. Could that sink the City of Fountains hopes in five years?
Nelson doesn’t think so.
“We have the current Arrowhead that we can use, then potentially a new Arrowhead, so we're really in a really great spot,” Nelson said. “We have some documents that are due in April then the big part we do later this year. But we’re very much in conversation with US Soccer, we’re in conversations, of course, with the county, with the city, and then with the Chiefs.”
During the 2023 Women’s World Cup, there were three stadiums used during the group stage with seating capacities under 19,000, so it’s possible Sporting KC’s Sporting Park or the Current’s CPKC Stadium, which may have expanded by 2031, could also host games.
“We are absolutely in partnership with the folks here in the city that are working on that bid,” Current President Raven Jemison said. “We are in lockstep.”
The city’s soccer infrastructure is as impressive as anywhere in the U.S.
“We are a mecca of venues here, so those stadiums certainly are in play, maybe for a group-stage game,” Nelson said. “All of those stadiums are being submitted in the next week or two. But there's an opportunity there for a lot of different activity across the city.”
That almost certainly would include women’s base camps as well.
Four teams, including three of the top seven in the FIFA Men’s World Ranking, picked Kansas City for the men’s tourney — No. 2 Argentina, No. 4 England, No. 7 Netherlands and No. 28 Algeria.
The hope is to repeat that feat and be the Base Camp Capital of the 2031 Women’s World Cup, too.
“The Kansas City area has always embraced women's sports and tried to elevate them,” Garcia said. “We continue to do that with Kansas City Current and, worldwide, I've seen a huge change in that we're seeing more and more women's sports getting the recognition and the TV airtime that they deserve. ... I'm ecstatic about this World Cup ... but I’m hopeful to see the women’s, too.”
—
