KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Count Patrick Mahomes among those who are most excited about the prospect of the 2026 FIFA World Cup staging games in Kansas City.
“It would be awesome,” said Mahomes, an All-Pro quarterback for the Chiefs and minority owner of Sporting Kansas City. ‘I was talking about that with Brittany yesterday. I’m going to be at every one of those games I can possibly be at, if they do get them here.”
Mahomes’ wife, Brittany, is part of the ownership group for the NWSL’s Kansas City Current. She played soccer in college at the University of Texas-Tyler and had a brief professional soccer career in Iceland.
The Mahomes family has seen firsthand Kansas City’s passion for soccer and know how much it would mean to host World Cup matches on GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
“I know Kansas City and how much they love soccer,” Mahomes said. “You see it with Sporting and how they sell out almost every game. Then, with the Current now in Sporting’s stadium, they’re bringing in these huge crowds. So, you know that Kansas City loves that sport and I think, if we get that bid, we’ll be selling out Arrowhead, Sporting, the Current stadium whenever it gets built up. It will be a great experience and I’ll be at every single one of them.”
Count Chiefs coach Andy Reid among the legion of Kansas City soccer fans as well.
“That would be great,” Reid said of the city’s World Cup-hosting bid. “I like soccer, believe it or not. I know I’m not built like a soccer player, but I wasn’t built like a quarterbacks coach either.”
Reid knows how much it would mean to Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt to host games at Arrowhead Stadium, the house his father built.
Lamar Hunt, who founded the Chiefs franchise and co-founded MLS after the 1994 FIFA World Cup, is one of the most important figures in the development of professional soccer in the U.S.
The Hunt family has owned three MLS teams at various times — including the Sporting KC franchise, which was founded as the Kansas City Wiz and sold in 2006, and the Columbus Crew, which the family sold in 2013.
Clark and Daniel Hunt still own FC Dallas, which the family has owned since its founding as the Dallas Burn in 1996.
“I know how fond the Hunt family is of soccer and how much it means to them,” Reid said. “The city of Kansas City, they love soccer, too. We would definitely have a great turnout there, great support.”
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