At the start of the Argentina versus Algeria FIFA World Cup game Tuesday, John Strong, the Fox match commentator, marveled at the sight of tens of thousands of South Americans celebrating in Missouri with Lionel Messi, global soccer’s greatest star.
“Kansas City loves to call itself the ‘Soccer Capital of America,'” Strong said. “That’s not something we would have said 20 years ago. This is not a game we would have expected to see in this city 20 years ago.”
You know why?
Twenty years ago that game at Arrowhead Stadium would have been at Soldier Field in Chicago. Where it belongs.
We don’t blame our friends in Kansas City one bit for stepping into the breach. But it should never have opened up in the first place.
Indeed, for those who weren’t around or have short memories, the World Cup opening ceremony was in Chicago 32 years ago; one of us editorial board members was there. That event, emceed by Oprah Winfrey with Diana Ross as a headliner, and the five following games (including a round-of-16 contest), represented a pivotal moment in the city’s growth, especially as an international air destination.
Chicago, as you likely know, turned down FIFA’s entreaties in 2018 during the Mayor Rahm Emanuel administration and walked away from the massive North American festival now unfolding to the enhancement of our rainy June. Emanuel, aware of the potential fallout for a potential presidential candidate, has been casting his decision as one of financial responsibility, given FIFA’s contractual clause giving the organization the right to demand a domed stadium at the city’s expense, even though they said at the time that they never exercise the clause.
In fairness to Emanuel, we were not in those 2018 negotiations, and while soccer’s governing body is not as notoriously corrupt as the International Olympic Committee, which famously strung Chicago along in 2007 even when the fix already was in, FIFA hardly is known for its spotless dealings, willingness to share control or overall generosity. Emanuel was right to worry about a fiscal downside. And the economic force of global soccer has grown exponentially since 2018; Emanuel could not have known that.
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Still, we’d point out that of the 16 stadiums being used for the 2026 World Cup, 13 are open-air venues, including Arrowhead in Kansas City. Somehow, those 13 cities all managed to make a deal with big, bad FIFA. We did not see the construction of any emergency domes.
We should have made a deal, too. The prize was too rich to walk away angry from the table. And, frankly, had some renovation of Soldier Field gotten done as part of a World Cup negotiation, we might not now be talking about the Hammond Bears. But we digress.
Why was the World Cup prize so rich? You can see it playing out right now in this expanded soccer fest.
Tens of thousands of international tourists are staying in World Cup cities for numerous days. Wall-to-wall international media coverage is playing of fans enjoying Buc-ees truck stops and even the Fort Worth stockyards, for goodness sake, and of course the global perception is that all of America’s major cities are hosting games.
Indeed they are — Boston, New York, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, Seattle — with the very prominent omission of America’s third-largest city.
Instead of Wrigleyville, Division Street or the West Loop, local media coverage has Argentinians partying in the bar at the Marriott Hotel. Sad!
Imagine instead the joyous collision of the official opening of the Obama Presidential Center this week, replete with its lineup of celebrity performers from Bono to Stevie Wonder, with thousands of international soccer fans walking down the Magnificent Mile and spending money. Chicago would have felt like the center of the world. Just like it did in 1994. Just like it did when Barack Obama gave his victory speech in Grant Park in 2008.
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