The Chiefs may be the biggest story in town as they head to the Super Bowl, but there's another big sports milestone this week.

It's 500 days till the World Cup.

Bearing all the headaches and stress of putting on the biggest event in Kansas City history is this woman.

Pam Kramer joins us next, and we track the rest of the week's big news stories in our reporter roundtable.

Stay with us.

Week in review is made possible through the generous support of Dave and Jamie Cummings.

Bob and Marlese Gourley, the Courtney as Turner Charitable Trust, John H. Mize, and Bank of America Na Co trustees, the Francis Family Foundation through the discretionary fund of David and Janice Francis and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Hello and welcome.

I'm Nick Haines, the Kansas City mayor and the police chief have high stress jobs with major headaches.

But what about the headaches of the person responsible for putting on the largest, most complicated event in Kansas City history?

I'm talking about the World Cup, and we just hit a big milestone.

It's now 500 days away.

Pam Kramer is heading up KC 2026.

Thank you so much for being with us.

What is the issue that keeps you up at night?

Is it the transportation?

Is it the security or is it the unknown?

And we certainly as we record this program, we're learning of the Wichita plane crash right after a major sporting event, the U.S.

Figure Skating Championships in Wichita.

Many coaches and and athletes onboard that plane.

Is it the unknown and how you have to prepare for all of those things?

Well, I mean, this morning, obviously the prevailing thought in my mind is for all the people who are affected by what happened last night.

And I think that sadness and the way I feel on the way, I'm guessing a lot of people feel reflects who we are as a region, that Wichita is part of us and we are Wichita.

And I think that's also part of what makes us so special as a World Cup host, that we come together to do big things and, and, to lift each other up.

But, you know, I think showing that to the world is what keeps me up at night.

How do we make sure that we're showing the world what we already know?

but certainly this morning, really thinking about all those people who are touched by what.

Happened, does that Wichita plane crash now become part of the agenda of your meetings for KC 2026?

Well, as you said, we're just we're just in the hours, the early hours after, the terrible tragedy.

So I'm sure there will be time for information sharing and learning.

our our job right now is making sure that we're planning for every contingency we can and making sure that our public safety and law enforcement, partners, have the resources they need for training, for readiness exercises, so that we're ready to welcome the world.

It's hard to completely plan now when there are still so many unknowns.

For instance, we don't even know what teams are going to even come here.

We have this sort of view that Lionel Messi and Argentina are coming here.

We don't know that was going to be here whatsoever.

when will we know that?

So the final draw will happen, we think in December.

Okay.

It has not been set yet.

So the best American analogy I can give for the final draw a selection Sunday.

That's when we'll find out where teams are playing in the group stage.

the first stage of the tournament.

And shortly after that, we'll know who will be here for base camp.

How many teams, which teams will be here?

So, we continue to plan.

And with every piece of information we get, we inform our planning a little more.

But that final draw in December is a really important.

I'm assuming, depending on what type of teams come here, will depend on how many people want to come to Kansas City to see them.

But you know, I've seen you know, there are billions of viewers.

We know for the World Cup.

It is a global televised event.

But how many people are you projecting to come to Kansas City or not?

Kansas City is to come and see the World Cup.

Well, this is the biggest, sporting competition in the world, and this is the biggest version of it.

So up until now, it's been 32 teams.

This time it will be 48 teams.

We do have a quarterfinal here in Kansas City, so that is a massive opportunity.

visit KC is now projecting 650,000 people over the course of the tournament.

And this is about a month long event.

Yeah it is.

So to give you some perspective, the population of Kansas City, Missouri is 509,000.

So we're going to know that it's here.

I think people really may not have a sense of how big this is going to be and what the economic impact on.

I'm just wondering how you get 600,000 people through the airport, getting to the hotels downtown, never mind over to Arrowhead Stadium for the games.

You know, there were original plans to have perhaps the streetcar line rail service.

That never happened.

Now we're relying on busses.

Where are these busses are going to come from?

Are you are you purchasing fleets of busses for these games?

Sure.

Well, the transportation planning really starts with what's here.

And who's here and how are we currently using our capacity.

So we want to make sure that residents can do the things that they normally do, get to work, but also enjoy the World Cup and engage with the World Cup and then expanding that capacity.

So that means the streetcar.

By then we'll be running to the plaza.

Right.

and there will be additional cars on the streetcar.

And then, yes, we will more than double the bus capacity in Kansas City.

We are nearing completion, of of leases for 200 busses.

So that will help us move those 650,000 people around efficiently.

And safely.

So when we think about people today who go over to Arrowhead Stadium, where all those games will be played, and they may be, you know, they may be at 9:00 in the morning tailgating before a game, some of them even without tickets.

How will that experience be different for people arriving at Arrowhead Stadium when the World Cup is here?

Will you even be able to park there?

It will be a very different experience.

In addition to the security perimeter, there will be a massive broadcast overlay hospitality overlay.

So a lot of those parking spaces will be taken up by activations.

so most people will ride a bus when they go to a match.

we don't know yet how many parking spaces will be available, but it will be a different experience than it is today.

So part of this is educating people on that, right?

Making sure they understand how to get to the park.

Right, how to get, to where they want to go.

And it's not just the matches at Arrowhead.

Those are important.

And we want to make sure that we plan for that.

But it's also getting people, to to Lenexa, Lenexa city center to enjoy what's there and to Lee's Summit and to Zona Rosa to make sure that they experience all we have to offer.

I'm pleased you mentioned that, because I put out a notice to say ticket prices will start at, quote, $323 with seats for a skybox or business sweet, sweet, running for $4,000.

You know, if you can't afford that, you know what involvement you have with any of the World Cup.

Sure, most people will not go to a match, right.

and so there will be the CFF fan festival, the official activation, which will be at the World War One museum.

but all over town there will be watch parties and activations, ways for people to engage.

And I know for my own travel, sometimes those are the most memorable and authentic ways to experience the country.

Are not necessarily the programed, experiences, but the, the more authentic experiences that you seek out.

And there's going to be a fan fest on the grounds of the World War One museum right there.

And the Union Station.

is that a free event?

It will be free.

It will be ticketed and secure.

So there will be metal detectors.

it will be more like a stadium environment.

Clear bag.

and the capacity will be smaller than than people might be familiar with from the NFL draft as an example.

So 25,000 people, and that's by definition, we want to push people to other parts of the region, to experience Kansas City.

I want to return to Arrowhead Stadium for a moment.

We know that they're taking out seats there to make room for the size requirements of the World Cup soccer pitch, but I was surprised to see some other considerations, including big naming changes because of FIFA rules on sponsorships.

For instance, hard Rock Stadium will be referred to as Miami Stadium.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be Atlanta Stadium.

Does that mean GHQ Field at Arrowhead is now Kansas City Stadium?

That is what's contemplated in the bid.

I mean, we're certainly we continue to have conversations with FIFA about that.

We of course, call it Arrowhead.

But for that period of time it will be Kansas City stage.

They have to cover up all the signage then that says they do.

So FIFA has commercial partners, sponsors who pay them lots of money to put on the matches.

So to protect their commercial partners, they they require a clean stadium.

So how do you build up excitement for this tournament among Kansas City ends?

Well, actually, not soccer fans.

Here's Eric Wesson on our recent urine review show for the most over reported story in our metro this year was.

Blank the World Cup.

I can't go for the rest of 2025 without hearing another word about a world Cup and what it's going to do for Kansas City and how Kansas City is going.

To do it.

I know I we have a lot of people now imagine how upset the never giving to public broadcasting ever again as a result of that.

Announcer we did have people say that.

Hey, but so, Pam, you know, there aren't a lot of people who are not soccer fans, you know, how are you building up their enthusiasm gap?

I have seen, for instance, you can have countdown clocks that's been considered now, massive clocks, counting down to the games in prominent areas around the city.

What else are you doing to try and get that enthusiasm up for what is the largest event?

Well, first of all, in my New Year's, bingo New Year's Resolution bingo card, I'm going to have coffee with Eric.

Oh.

That's good.

Share the excitement with him.

That's right.

I, I shared this.

I was with sprint now T-Mobile in 1994 and saw firsthand what the World Cup look like.

And so, to get people educated about that, to help them understand it, even if you don't love soccer, the chance to show the world, our city and the way we do things and our hospitality is exciting.

So we will have countdown clocks launching at one year out.

You'll start to see additional activations, a host city poster, that is from a local artist and the local arts community participated in that.

A host city song.

some other things that will start to build excitement.

And then our volunteer program, in third quarter, will start accepting information from people who want to volunteer.

And we'll need thousands of them.

Okay.

You never know what you can expect when you're putting on a big games.

And I know you're a, a frequent viewer of we can review and you'd have seen those scenes we had on the show is a big topic just a few months ago when in Miami, there were people came into the stadium.

They had no tickets.

They just barged in, causing huge amounts of commotion.

The games were all delayed there, and there were international stories in the Guardian newspaper in the UK.

How can they possibly put on the World Cup?

How are you going to guard against that?

Well, I think we have to learn from every experience, right.

All of that information has to inform our planning.

This is very different than a Copa match or another similar match.

The, the security around the FIFA World Cup is, extraordinary.

And, you know, by the time someone gets to the gate at Arrowhead, their ticket will have been checked several times.

So it will be a different process.

But again, that all of those experiences inform our planning.

Now, the big importance for FIFA when putting on these games is that there will be a lasting legacy in the places where it takes place, and I know in Qatar, you know, when that the games took place the last time they wanted to be the most environmentally friendly, climate friendly games ever done.

What is the lasting legacy of these games for Kansas City?

Yeah, I think a lot of people think about legacy is sticks and bricks.

Maybe they build a park, maybe, something similar.

For us.

It's about sustained and long term impact.

So is it economic development?

Probably during the tournament most certainly.

But how do we leverage that?

How do we attract business as a result of World Cup?

We'll have more fortune 100 C-suite executives and heads of state here than ever before.

So showing them the value of doing business here and locating business here, that's a piece of it.

and also creating capacity in our people.

Can we train more CDL, more commercial, licensed drivers as part of our bus needs?

And that's a legacy.

So, certainly thinking about the ten years from now, can we point to this as a moment that accelerated our trajectory?

As you know.

I know you're looking for legions of volunteers to help with this effort.

What do you want them to do?

I we are we supposed to be opening up our homes as house families?

Perhaps we'd be rideshare drivers to help move all these people around.

I think it's going to be, you know, supporting our transportation network at park and ride locations.

It's going to be welcoming people at the airport.

There will be volunteers at the stadium, at fan festival, there are dozens and dozens of positions where we will need help.

We'll start interviewing for those positions.

FIFA will need volunteers.

We'll need language, language skills.

So Spanish and Portuguese in particular, those interpretation and translation skills will be very valuable to us.

If you have any Welsh fans here with the Welsh team, I will make myself available for translation service on the list.

All right.

Pam Kramer is director of Casey 2026, our World Cup host community.

Thank you very much for being with us.

up next, the rest of the week's news in our report, a roundtable.

What's the World Cup?

Wasn't the only big story in town checking in on those other important headlines.

The star's chief political correspondent, Jonathan Shrrman, who, by the way, is operating on three hours sleep because of the Wichita plane crash.

That's right.

And, thank you for this coffee.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's been a huge story this week, as we talked about with our World Cup director.

Also with us is star contributing editorial writer Dave Helling and Meg Cunningham from the Beacon.

The new Missouri governor delivers his first state of the state address this week.

I've heard barely a peep about it.

Is that because Meg, he does it at 3:00 in the afternoon on a Tuesday when most of us are working for a living?

This was, you know, his kind of debut to the state in terms of his policy and his budget.

I think also we had that federal funding freeze news come out Monday night.

So that could have kind of sucks the air out of the room for him on Tuesday.

In terms of dominating the news cycle.

We have to acknowledge also, Jonathan, that many people have just checked out on politics.

They're not watching anymore.

They're not listening to politics.

if you are one of those people, is there anything we need to know about that's going to shake your world, shake your family?

As a result of what my co-host said this week in Jefferson City.

shake your family.

No.

Okay.

there's a bunch of various different policy proposals.

I don't think anything that necessarily rises to the level of ground breaking.

but that's in line with Kehoe.

He promised stability not to be someone who rocks the boat.

Was there anything ground breaking, shaking of people's lives as a result of that speech?

Not a surprise.

But I think the impetus, the momentum for, significant income tax reductions in Missouri is very real.

you know, he's talked about going to zero, which is the Sam Brownback experiment redux, if you will, on the state in the state of Missouri.

And it's easy to dismiss that as a fantasy or it's never going to happen or but you do get the sense.

I get the sense anyway that there is, as I say, some momentum behind that idea and that significant tax cuts, maybe over a couple of years, are really on the table, in a substantial way.

We were told to expect details about a possible stadium plan in Kansas City.

Did we get that make?

Not a ton of clarification yet.

coming from the state of the state, I think the big debate is really happening amongst local officials right now trying to work out that plan behind closed doors.

We'll probably kind of see the state come in with that support if it's needed.

but I'm not really seeing how drive that conversation necessarily.

Did you, did you use the word murky in your article regards to that this week, because of the lack of details.

Everyone knows these discussions are happening behind closed doors, but we don't, really know to what degree Kehoe is actually involved to how far he's actually kind of driving the conversation here.

It seems, for all intents and purposes, that he is probably right now deferring more to local officials like Mayor Lucas, like Frank white.

He did for a while, though, about $40 million for the World Cup here in Kansas City.

As we were just talking about that, surprisingly, I thought that was wow, how incredibly generous for a Republican governor to do that.

and that's all I seem to have heard, is people saying that's all he gave.

Well, it's, it's going to bring the state's total contribution to about 110 million.

but considering that this is apparently the largest event Kansas City has ever hosted, it does raise some questions about whether it's adequate to ensure proper transportation to, pay for security, which I'm sure is going to involve tons of police over time, and the various other needs that you might not immediately think about, but they're going to be integral to this event.

But throwing that money out, though, does that show that he is willing to dole out cash for the Royals chiefs?

He may be, but the legislature will have the final say.

Nick, I would be stunned if the legislature gives the full $40 million for the World Cup, going forward, because they have to cut in other parts of the budget.

The Covid money is gone.

They want to reduce taxes.

And most of Outstate Missouri will see this as an extravagance, not a necessity.

And that's true of the stadium, too.

I think one of the reasons we don't hear from the governor is because stadium support is extraordinarily unpopular in in the legislature.

It's even unpopular in Kansas City, as we learned last April.

So the ability to finance a significant contribution for the World Cup or the stadiums is a very intricate political challenge for the governor.

And I think in the face of that, he wants to stay silent.

Now, as we wait to hear what the governor has to say and what he's going to do about the stadiums, Missouri lawmakers are not letting the grass grow under their feet.

Following the president's lead, lawmakers are debating a statewide ban on all diversity efforts, perhaps more accurately, a ban on any entity receiving state cash from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

What does that really mean, though?

No more diversity offices at Umkc, CMU and other universities.

What about local nonprofits and arts organizations that get state aid?

Meg.

Yeah, I mean, we saw this week Missouri State University saying we're going to pull back from our D-I programs, in that statement, the president of the university saying, listen, almost 40% of our funds come from the state.

We have to stay in lockstep with what the state government wants here.

And I think we'll continue to kind of see this spread throughout other statewide programs, trainings for statewide employees, that sort of thing.

We're already seeing this kind of percolate.

And this is really a continuation of a focus Republicans have had for several years, kind of beginning with critical race theory.

It's kind of morphed into this focus on Dei.

And it continues even at the national level.

We've seen, President Trump this week even talk about Dei efforts at the Federal Aviation Administration in the wake of this Wichita plane crash.

You know, 12 weeks after voters approve amendment three, abortions are still on hold in Missouri.

Planned Parenthood originally slated they would open three clinics in early December.

It's never happened.

What is the hold up, Mack?

I think, you know, we're still in the courts working this out.

We knew going into this process that this was going to be something that was really drawn out.

Missouri is the first state to reverse its abortion ban.

So there's a lot of things to work through here.

you know, the judge last time they were in court kind of gave a mixed bag back to Planned Parenthood in terms of saying, yeah, you're right on some of this stuff.

This is unconstitutional.

But now the question kind of remains, and who is the stakeholder?

And that's something that's a little bit more difficult to figure out.

Is that the state, you know, working on licensing or is it, you know, people's reproductive freedoms?

John's done a lot of reporting on that throughout the week.

And we can see that it's going to be a point of confusion.

You know moving forward anything will be appealed most likely.

So this will.

Continue.

Did the governor signal any position on that in his state of the state address this week?

Well, he wants to double funding for alternatives to abortion programing.

but his he does not really have a direct role in any kind of constitutional amendment that might, reverse or overturn amendment three.

I do think, though, we have to keep in mind that the legislature and Governor Keough may be interested in pursuing new abortion legislation this year that would, in essence, make it a moving target.

We'll go ahead and adjudicate the current law in the court.

And then suddenly, here are these new laws that may also force some judicial intervention.

And so you could have this thing roiling for months, maybe even years.

That's part of the strategy.

And I think he did talk about that, didn't he, Jonathan?

In the state of the state where he said, look, we're going to try and make this the most pro-life state we can, and we're going to look at ways that we might make statutory changes that would fit within the parameters of amendment.

We have to remember, of course, that Kansans also voted on abortion.

and they said, we want to have reproductive rights with the new legislature in Kansas.

Is there any moves to dilute that?

I still think that's an issue that is not really on the front burner.

for Kansas lawmakers, I feel like they still, to some degree feel the sting of that, 2022 vote.

But I think each passing year, you will probably see them a little bit more emboldened to to try again.

I just don't think it's a huge priority this year.

Now as the Chiefs are in the Super Bowl.

but why is it that three months after voters approved sports betting in Missouri, Kansas City, and still won't be able to place a wager on their favorite team?

What's that about?

This is probably what, the third year in a row where Missourians are kind of mad that they can't beat during the Super Bowl.

So, you know, it's one of those situations where, yes, it's going to take a long time to implement.

there's a lot of regulatory stuff that has to happen in the background for these sports books to be ready to come online.

It's a long wait.

You know, they have until December, of 2025 to get online.

They're obviously wanting to come online earlier than that.

Every day.

You know, that they're not operating.

Is money lost to them.

So I think we've heard them say, you know, the benchmark is sometime early summer.

we'll see if they make it.

So just because you vote on something day but doesn't mean it's going to happen.

Not immediately.

Okay.

All right.

It's part of the democracy in this country is it takes a little while for things to unwind.

You know, I just went to Price Chopper and I picked up these eggs, and these were $9, dozen.

any chance that Missouri, is going to eliminate the sales tax on food like Kansas just did, just to give them a break to us who are actually breaking under the weight of the cost of eggs.

Well, that.

Was a question I had at the start of the year.

Was, what's the plan here?

you know, there's been a little bit of bipartisan movement on this in Jefferson City to eliminate the sales tax on groceries.

Now, the path for doing that is the point of contention, of course, between Republicans and Democrats.

How exactly do they go about that?

The the crux of the issue is, are we trying to cut a local sales tax as well as the state sales tax?

And that's where we're seeing cities get upset because they're looking at millions in potentially lost revenue that they really rely on.

And as is history in the Missouri General Assembly, if there's a cut, you know, cities aren't necessarily expecting a recoup from the state on that money.

So don't expect any quick reprieve on egg prices this year.

The path forward is scrambled.

Oh my goodness.

Easy.

Good.

you know, there are lots of other stories of course, in the news all happening.

We've talked about the World Cup already.

What was the big local story we missed?

The largest TB epidemic in the U.S. is now underway, apparently in Kansas and Wyandotte County, and Johnson County is the hardest hit.

There have been two deaths, but local health experts say the risk to the general public is very low.

Thousands of Kansas City ins are migrating south for New Orleans, just ahead of next week's big Super Bowl game.

And is this one of the most hopeful signs of change?

The Kansas City Police Department saying they've just started their largest new officer recruitment class in a decade.

All righty.

Mike, did you pick one of those stories or something completely different?

I mean, I think this federal funding freeze debacle is kind of the biggest story of the week.

My colleagues, Suzanne King and Josh merchant did some reporting on this this week about what it could mean for the social safety net health care providers here in Kansas City.

This is obviously creating a lot of concern for them, you know, providing care for low income patients.

They're they're worried about what this might mean.

Of course, this is all left up in the air as we speak right now.

But, that's I thought.

The court intervened.

And then the presidency, the Trump administration said, no, we're going to rescind it.

But there's still lots of fears and anxiety.

We're still seeing the white House saying, we're going to push forward on this.

We're going to try to find a path.

I mean, I think this kind of temporary pause is going to be there Avenue for trying to avoid congressional upset.

but, I mean, it depends on what what judge decides.

I know they didn't withdraw it for everybody.

I know it was settlement refugee resettlement organizations here in town like Dell alum JVs, that's still in place and that's causing a lot of issues for their, funding.

Jonathan, what did you put down?

Well, Kansas lawmakers are on the verge of passing a gender affirming care ban.

they've done that before.

Governor Laura Kelly has always vetoed it.

she probably will veto it again.

But the Republicans have a larger majority this year and probably have the votes to override the veto.

Is this one of those issues, just like Meg talked about, though, that could be superseded at the federal level, because that's also a major part of that, that, that we may have federal legislation.

It doesn't matter what happens with state lawmakers.

Yeah, it's definitely possible.

We'll just have to see what can make its way through Congress.

Dave, by the way, that's true with abortion legislation.

Two, we're paying attention to Missouri and Kansas, but national legislation is always possible.

the other story that we might talk about briefly is, I think, Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas and, yes, Republican was, heavily involved in the original lobbying to get a flight from Wichita, Kansas to Washington National Airport.

And I do think there will be, a huge conversation about whether the airspace is too crowded over, DCA after that, accident, on Wednesday, and Jerry Moran, maybe at least, in some senses at the center of that discussion.

So he could be one of the leaders we see on television when we think through the inquiries on this.

Right.

He is a chair of the aviation subcommittee in the Senate.

So he's will likely play a very public role in some of those congressional hearings.

And on that, we will say our week has been reviewed courtesy of the beacons.

May Cunningham, the stars, Jonathan.

Sure.

My note, of course, our longtime Weekend Review panelist and Kansas City news icon, Dave Helling and I'm Nick Haines from all of us here at Kansas City PBS.

Be well, keep calm and carry on.

Three young gentlemen.

Creating art.

Creating art.

Honestly.

See, other people witnessed the story of, Junius Groves.

The potato king of the world.

This story for KPRC 75 years.

I wanted to give them the opportunity to kind of stand out.

I think that this is such a phenomenal opportunity to highlight not only black creators, but the black community.

And I'm very excited for this film festival to do just that.