{"id":586185,"date":"2026-04-06T16:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/586185\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T16:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T16:32:09","slug":"k-c-spending-big-to-position-itself-as-americas-soccer-capital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/586185\/","title":{"rendered":"K.C. spending big to position itself as America\u2019s soccer capital"},"content":{"rendered":"

The K.C. metro area has poured $650M over the past 15 years into \u201cbuilding world-class training facilities and stadiums in an effort to become America\u2019s soccer capital<\/a>,\u201d according to Katherine Hamilton of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The city had a budget of $165M for the FIFA World Cup tournament. After winning the bid in June 2022, K.C. built a \u201cnew airport, leased 200 buses to shuttle guests, renovated the Chiefs\u2019 National Football League stadium to make room for soccer\u2019s corner kicks, and sent officials on international tours to market the city as a World Cup destination.\u201d Starting in June, it will host six matches, with four teams using the city as a base. While other host cities such as N.Y. and L.A. draw \u201cplenty of international visitors every summer,\u201d the World Cup is a \u201cunique opportunity\u201d for K.C. to \u201cshine on the global stage.\u201d The city says that it \u201cexpects 650,000 visitors.\u201d K.C. Sports Commission and VisitKC President & CEO Kathy Nelson said, \u201cThere\u2019s not a comparable event for us. We will get eyeballs that we\u2019ve never had.\u201d K.C.\u2019s soccer spending has \u201csparked broader development.\u201d Real-estate data firm CoStar noted that the number of apartments in downtown K.C. \u201cdoubled over the past decade, with nearly a third of that growth happening since 2020.\u201d The K.C. Current\u2019s stadium, which opened last year, is \u201cspurring roughly\u201d $1B in planned development, including \u201chundreds of apartments and an extension of the city\u2019s public-transit system\u201d (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4\/6<\/a>). <\/p>\n

EMERGENCY ORDER: In N.Y., Carl Campanile writes NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani \u201csigned an emergency order that will block events including some concerts and food festivals from city parkland during the FIFA World Cup.\u201d The city Parks Department \u201cadopted the rule at the request of the NYPD, denying new permits for special events on park property during the\u202f<\/a>tournament,\u201d which runs from June 11 to July 19. The directive \u201ccould block any events with 20 or more people that require the special permits which could even include birthday celebrations at the Big Apple\u2019s 100 featured parks\u201d (N.Y. POST, 4\/6<\/a>).<\/p>\n

NEW DEAL: FIFA will be featured throughout Fanatics Fest NYC\u2019s four-day event this year via immersive experiences, soccer legend appearances, FIFA World Cup programming and integrated content moments as part of an agreement between FIFA and Fanatics Fest NYC. The 2026 Fanatics Fest NYC event will be held July 16-19 at the Javits Center. FIFA will also have a role in the festival\u2019s multiday live competitions, Fanatics Games (Fanatics).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The K.C. metro area has poured $650M over the past 15 years into \u201cbuilding world-class training facilities and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-586185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}