KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Cass, Miami, Franklin and Douglas counties with an emphasis on Lawrence. If you have a question about your community or a story idea, send Lily a tip at lilyoshea.becker@kshb.com.
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The World Cup takes place in the summer of 2026 and Lawrence, Kansas, is a potential base camp for one of the teams who will play in Kansas City, so the city began conversations around preparations this week.
Rafael Gonzalez has lived in Lawrence for almost 20 years and is a part owner of Global Cafe on Massachusetts Street. He's originally from Spain, and says soccer is in his DNA.
“I grew up playing soccer back home. It’s like baseball in the United States or football," he said.
So, he's heard the news about Lawrence being in the running to host a World Cup team.
LINK | Kansas City-area tentatively slated to serve as base camp for 3 FIFA 2026 World Cup teams
“It’s a dream come true," he said. "Hopefully I can go to one of the games, too.”
Gonzalez said Lawrence would make a good base camp for a World Cup team.
“I think we have great fans," he said. "I think having KU basketball, KU football, you know, it’s a culture of being supportive of all sports.”
Gonzalez knows the Lawrence sports community all too well, and says it's international. He's played in the Lawrence Adult Soccer League for the past 17 years and is on its board; he said the league has players from the U.S., South America, Africa and Europe.
He also coaches both girls and boys soccer at a local middle school.
Gonzalez has regulars who stop in at Global Cafe to grab a bite to eat and watch soccer with him on one of the restaurant's TVs.
“He brought me that one, a few years back," Gonzalez said about a regular who brought him an Arsenal Football Club scarf. "He’s an Arsenal fan, and he comes every day, you know, we watch soccer and we play.”
If selected, Lawrence would host a team at Rock Chalk Park and players would stay in a nearby hotel.
“The Sporting KC training facility and then the KC Current training facility are also in the running for this," said Explore Lawrence Executive Director Kim Anspach. "So, we’re playing up there with the big dogs so to speak.”
The region has yet to experience an event on this scale before, Anspach said. So, Lawrence is working with FIFA to understand what hosting would look like.
“Typically, a base camp is going to bring in an extra 15,000 people into your community,“ Anspach said.
Anspach said the economic impact is immeasurable, but the city can begin to prepare.
“We’re going to have more people visiting our restaurants and shops, so we need to be sure we’re scaling up our workforce beginning now," she said.
Both Anspach and Gonzalez believe the community would welcome a team with open arms.
“I think whichever team chooses us, will have the whole city as their biggest fans for the World Cup," Anspach said.
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