Oh yeah, they got.

It's being called the biggest event in Kansas City history.

But are we really World Cup ready?

Whether you're off the charts, excited or deeply skeptical, this is your program.

This hour, we're at the Plaza Library, putting the tournament's top decision makers on the spot over whether Kansas City is truly prepared for the world's most watched sporting event.

Weekend review is made possible through the generous support of Bob and Marlys Gourley.

The Francis family Foundation, through the discretionary fund of David and Janice Francis, and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Third, if I could never say static and here comes the name.

These players stand on the brink of history.

The greatest show on earth.

Sky rises, the World Cup shatters.

Oh glorious.

Beyond glorious.

It's time to go.

Oh, Brazil we go, we stay into to galaxy of great Argentina.

Champions of the walls, the sights and sounds of the World Cup.

Hello, I'm Nick Heinz, and we're at the Kansas City Plaza library tonight.

Pulling back the curtain, trying to look behind the scenes of what we are calling here in our camp in Kansas City.

The biggest event in our city's history with us are three of the biggest players charged with making it all happen.

Stacy Graves is responsible for making sure the games are safe, and we don't have hordes of super soccer hooligans on our hands.

She's Kansas City's chief of police.

Pam Cramer has been the most visible local face of the games, and has borne most of the headaches.

She is the head of Kansas City's World Cup committee and overseeing pretty much everything else, from transportation and road closures to the massive infrastructure involved in inviting the world to Kansas City.

Is our city manager, Mario Vasquez.

And remember, he's the man who's also been charged with negotiating the deal with the royals to bring them to Crown Center.

And you found time to sleep as well, possibly well on about finding time.

I definitely managed to get some sleep in.

All righty.

We also have a fourth panelist tonight, and that is you.

We'd love to hear your questions, but because we have so many people here, can we avoid doing any sermons and lectures and congressional filibusters this evening?

Could we agree in advance to say, okay, if you got a question, we'd love to hear from you.

Can you ask a question in 20s or less?

Can we can we do agree on that?

Okay.

Think think jeopardy clue versus a Ken Burns documentary.

How does that sound?

All righty.

Thank you very much.

We're going to get to that in a moment.

The prompt treatment with a smaller city to be hosting in the United States.

There's only four cities that have a quarterfinal.

We are one of them.

You know, as you sit here today, what's the single biggest reason why that's happening?

Well, first of all, thank thank you for having me.

Thank all of you for being here.

I think it's a great reflection of the interest and excitement in the region.

I think that is that maybe because we are smaller, we recognize that the opportunity is bigger.

So this is the biggest version of the biggest sporting competition ever in the world.

The World Cup is always the biggest sports competition.

It dwarfs the Super Bowl in terms of global viewership.

It's been expanded.

It's usually 32 teams.

This time it will be 48.

And we are the smallest city, not only of the US cities, but of all 16.

So, I think the regional unified effort, the last time we did anything truly regional was union Station.

And that turned out, pretty remarkably, I think.

And now you have Kansas and Missouri and private and public and civic all coming together rowing in the same direction.

And I think people are starting to take notice.

I mean, I think there was a time when I heard, we'll never get, a base camp.

Well, we have four base camps.

We'll never get a big team.

We have three pot one teams.

We're the only host city to have more than one team.

Which are those top ranked teams.

So good things.

Yeah.

And you mentioned football team.

No city in America has as many in such a small geographic area.

We had a phone call just to get to know each other a little bit on Friday.

And you said we were lucky to get two base camps.

Why do you think that happened and why does it matter?

Part of that has to be because of the facilities that we have in Kansas City.

We have we are we are soccer capital, the United States.

And that's probably one of the reasons why people pick Kansas City to to have your host, we have great facilities in Kansas City.

And it is a central location to, to the rest of the country and to the rest of the continent.

And because teams are playing both here and away, it's a it's an easy place to get around.

So that's, that's I think the biggest reason we have the games playing played at Arrowhead Stadium, which during the tournament that we're going to be known as Kansas City Stadium, we have the Fan Fest that's going to be taking place, by the national World War one, museum there.

And CC graves with all of these base camp.

So four of them, while it sounds like an amazing deal, doesn't have to strain your resources even more now, you've got to be providing protection everywhere it does.

But it's not not anything that we can't handle.

But, I just want to chuckle when you said we're lucky that we got four base camps.

And, from a public safety perspective, that does lean into more resources.

But we have done that.

We have already established relationships with our regional partners in and around Kansas City.

We've done other large events, nothing of this, scale and scope, but we've done other large events where we've asked for for outside resources to come in, and that's exactly what we're going to do.

Some you're bringing in a lot of, police officers from around the region who are going to be coming to Kansas City.

But if housing is such a problem, where are those people going to?

So not only are we bringing in our regional partners, but we're going further out and bringing officers in from 11 states.

And, a lot of those officers coming in are going to be staying at the nearby universities.

So they're not taking up hotel space.

Now, we may be the smallest city, but we're projecting big numbers.

Los Angeles expects 150,000 out of town visitors for the World Cup, and they are hosting, by the way, the US team, Kansas City, is projecting 650,000 of visitors, more than four times as many.

Pam Kramer, help us understand why that difference.

Yeah, and I think the numbers of Visit Casey projections.

So first of all, I would say and I've said this all along, not all at once, 650,000 people over the course of the tournament.

Los Angeles, I think, measured a pretty finite area.

When they were doing their visitor number, we measured the Metro, Kathy and her team.

But I think the, the quarterfinal, those four base camp teams, we know from FIFA, we're starting to get some insight into the ticket data that there are there are tens of thousands of people coming not only from outside of Kansas City, but outside of the United States.

So people are coming.

I think the other the other thing, we've seen a lot of hotel information this week, but Short-Term Rental Market Dynamics are in play here.

I don't know if anybody here is renting out your home or, you know, rental property.

But I think lots of people coming in are looking at that as an alternative to a hotel.

So we're still confident that we're going to have lots of folks here, and we are focused on being prepared to welcome them.

What happens if we don't get 650,000 fans?

Mario Vasquez From a city point of view, well, I think we have the games matter what.

And so no matter what, we're going to have world class soccer, and Kansas City.

And I would just encourage residents to come watch too, because the games are not just for visitors, but also for us, you know, and that's that's the opportunity that we have is to showcase, world class athletes.

I mean, as I mentioned you the other day, you know, Lionel Messi is Patrick Mahomes times 100 in terms of world popularity.

And so there is a dimension that we really cannot comprehend.

And you and I, we're we're not from this country.

So we we understand the passion that, that visitors and soccer fans have for the sport.

If people were not to show up, I'm like, if we don't have the games, but also I think we're going to gain, the world class exposure no matter what.

You know, I think people are going to get to see our facilities, our downtown, our skyline, our our residents, our community coming together to be a host.

And I think that's something that's going to stay with us for the long term.

Stacy Graves, are you planning for 650,000 fans converging on our doorstep in a few weeks?

Yes.

The police department always plans for the worst and hopes, and in this situation, hoping for the best.

Those fans do come to Kansas City and experience our city, and, are welcomed and have a fun time.

A fun, safe time.

Yeah.

What would happen for you to say we've overshot the numbers?

Yeah.

I mean, I think this goes back to what the city manager said.

The tourism is important that short term tourism impact is important.

But this is so much more than that.

I just came from interviews with two with The Times of London, with the Daily Mail.

Another one newspaper in an Argentinian, television station who are all in Kansas City doing pre-tournament stories.

We can't buy that kind of publicity.

Does that translate in any meaningful way, though, to more business for Kansas City?

Do we have big British companies and Dutch companies saying, hey, I've seen some of those ads.

I think we may want to open up in Kansas City.

Well, you know, I you never know.

There's, you know, a flutter butterfly flutters its wings in China.

And next thing you know, there's a hurricane someplace else.

So the opportunities that open up are hard to measure.

Exposure, publicity, you know, six games, you know, the countries that have a base camp against that, it will showcase us no matter what.

So I think you cannot really put a price to that, that exposure.

The opportunity to just get our names out there is stay with us on this special Hour-Long edition of the program from the Paulson Library.

Coming up, we get to your questions.

But first, TV stations around the world now arriving and asking how come Kansas City is even hosting this event?

Here's British television.

Then get ready to cringe in a story.

It starts and ends with The Wizard of Oz.

So up for the rainbow.

Way up high in the land where Dorothy was whisked to Oz, the dream that England dares to dream might this time come true.

Love in and over this rainbow.

Not the Emerald City, but England's green and pleasant land.

Their training camp in Kansas City is receiving its final top dressing.

I think we're ready.

We've been ready for few weeks.

We're just buttoning up to get it to where it's at now.

For these guys.

I think they'll love it.

If you're wondering why Kansas will, part of the explanation is facilities like this.

But the other reason is geography.

This is the heart of America.

Meaning during the tournament, the England squad will never face an exhausting transcontinental flight.

But this is where England thought they'd be based a world class facility on the other side of the city that is now being backed by arch rivals Argentina.

After FIFA intervened, claiming the South Americans got first pick because they're playing a fixture here.

England have still got the hotel of their choice, though, chosen for its privacy and calm setting to help focus minds on the prize ahead.

The whole place booked out and soon to be locked down, irking nearby residents, most of whom couldn't even name an England player.

Do you think you'll see any of the England squad?

I don't know, would you recognize them?

Could you name any of them?

No, no, I don't follow soccer at all.

I do follow the Chiefs.

Football in Kansas City means American football to most.

The internet's going to break Taylor Swift's presence.

That's her fiancé, Travis Kelsey's Chiefs games.

End zone.

There it is.

A touchdown has put them under a global spotlight.

But soccer is fast becoming synonymous with this Midwestern city.

Turn.

Turn back this way.

Play forward play forward.

Each generation more enthusiastic.

But can they name any England players?

Oh, I can name so many.

Well, in the past years they've had Ramsdale, Pickford, Jude Bellingham, Harry Maguire.

Yeah, yeah.

Grew up Harry Kane.

And who better to sum up the mood than 11 year old Beckham?

Good luck.

But if you're going to lose anyone, let it be USA.

The local soccer team is Sporting Kansas City.

One of their stars is a Brit who thinks his compatriots will like the slow pace of his adoptive home.

It's a quiet city.

You get to go to certain places and have a bit more of a chill vibe.

It's now going to be loud and busy all the time.

They say Kansas City has more fountains than any other apart from Rome, the Paris of the Plains.

Famed for its bars and barbecue, half pint of brisket and a bread pudding for dessert.

I didn't.

There's plenty to offer both players and wags.

I think if Taylor Swift can find great things to do in Kansas City, any significant other of anyone who's playing in Kansas City will find a great place to be.

England expects and Kansas awaits.

They'll need their brain, their heart and their courage this summer.

Tom Rivers, ITV News Kansas well, let's be candid, the ticket prices, if you looked at them, I kind of eye popping up.

They, So are we at the stage queen of saying this is an event that is for people coming here from someplace else.

If you are from Kansas City and you can't afford a ticket, you're just watching from afar.

Well, I think it was really important to us.

First of all, the local host committee, has no involvement in ticket prices.

Or ticket sales.

But I think for us, the FIFA Fan festival, it was really important to us that that is free to the general public.

We want to make sure people can go there.

Can experience the World Cup, can connect with fans from around the world, can celebrate, can understand that global passion that Mario talked about.

In 1994, I worked for then sprint, now T-Mobile, and I was able to we were a sponsor of the World Cup, and I was able to go to all nine U.S.

host cities, and I have never seen anything like it just being a part of the experience.

Even if you don't love soccer or you're not a fan, there is a there's a chance to learn and a chance to grow in that, experience.

At the FIFA Fan Festival.

Mario Vasquez as our city manager, if you never attended one game, how will your life be any better because of the World Cup?

I, I actually have attended a game in 1994.

I went to watch my home country, Bolivia against Germany.

And I think, you know, there's something there's something exciting to to watch a competition, you know, the passion from the fans, the German fans and the Bolivian fans, even the the just the American fans over there.

It's just it's hard to describe, yeah.

I if you don't attend the game, I think you got to be able to watch.

Come and see FanFest.

Yeah, come out and see, the various entertainment districts throughout the city that can also activate and want to have some host parties and watch parties and just comics, you know, this is for us as well as our visitors.

So take advantage of our city.

We are ready to host visitors and, you know, and host you as residents as well.

You know, when we had the, NFL draft in Kansas City, I don't know if you recall this, there were a lot of the roads were closed, and the Kansas City School District canceled golf courses during that period of time.

So what is the advice here?

I mean, do you not want people to go downtown when the fan fest is there?

No, I would say actually the opposite, you know, live your life, you know, we are open for business.

Come, come do the things that you normally would do.

Now might be a little bit busy planning ahead, but live your life.

I mean, I can't, we're not shutting down the city for this.

This is what big cities do.

We host big events.

We are a big city.

And actually, that's one of the things I want to emphasize.

You ask why it's been picked as, as a host city before.

Because we're so small.

It's not up to us.

It's up to five.

And other people recognize that we're capable of doing this.

Yes.

Stacy Graves, the police department.

I've been following the headlines ever since we got the bid, and it's been kind of amazing.

Some of the things you've been doing in the police department.

One thing that surprised me, didn't you know that they sent officers to Europe to go and see games?

They had to see the monitor from behavior.

It was about monitoring some behavior, wasn't it?

Not just for a vacation.

Well, yes, that's right.

You didn't get it.

You didn't get to go.

No, I didn't get to go.

But I have been I have spent some time with Scotland.

So tell me, what did they learn along the way?

They learned best practices, but even more so, they've built relationships with some of the folks that have that that host international matches.

Have you found some ways of policing this tournament that you didn't think of before, because you were there in Scotland and in Germany?

Yes, I will say one of the big takeaways was really learning about fan behavior.

You think the the tailgating for the Kansas Chiefs is something else?

The fan behavior that we've learned about is something that I would say we haven't seen in this country.

It's exciting.

It's they're passionate.

Some may say there's something else, but, we're excited to host them, and we are prepared for whatever comes our way, whether that be marches or, just really excited folks here in our city weren't that Kansas.

Missouri police farm has prepared well for what was coming, and the Netherlands is one of those teams who does like to march to those games, hordes of them in orange shirts and going from city centers to the stadiums.

However, many miles it may be.

Let's.

Look at the.

Are you prepared, Stacey Graves, to have fans marching from Union Station or Fan Fest all the way up I-70 to Arrowhead Stadium?

Are you prepared for that?

We are ready for whatever comes our way, but I will tell you the obvious safety reasons I-70 is not a good idea.

Not only is it not a good idea, it would take probably about 3.5 hours to get from the city center out to Arrowhead or, excuse me, Kansas City Stadium.

But even still, you know, some of those fans that have marched, you know, do marches in international cities, it's usually city center square to the stadium, which is usually maybe about a 40 minute walk.

This will be like a three, 3.5 hours.

It's not going to work out okay.

But but we will help our fans do marches from wherever they're they're starting places to FanFest.

Pam Kremer, what has taken.

Because we're trying to really peel back the onion here, give a sense of what's happening behind the scenes, what is taking longer cost more or proven harder than you expected in putting these games on here?

And I think we always knew that transportation, you know, we I don't know that we were behind, but we certainly started from a different place.

We don't have mass transit to the stadium today.

We do have this state line that runs down the center of our metro.

We wanted to make sure that even beyond the requirements, which is getting people from the airport to downtown and from the fan festival to the stadium that we were also connecting people to economic activity.

So, creating that transit system, when you see it, on paper it looks pretty simple but understanding.

And we do want to impact daily service.

We want our people, people to be able to use the services that they use to get to work and, to the grocery store and, you know, whatever they do in their daily life.

So identifying the locations for those indirect sites, the park and ride locations are largely based on the amount of time it takes to turn a bus.

The more busses you need, the more expensive it is.

So if you can put the park and ride close to the stadium, you need fewer busses and it costs less.

And most people who are parking and riding have a car.

So where we put the parking right is less important.

We just know that the stadium capacity for parking will be will be diminished.

So I would say transportation has certainly been, the longest plan in the works.

But I feel very good about where it is.

And I would encourage everyone.

One of our goals is to get people here to try public transit for the first time, or to keep using it or to try it again, because we think there is an opportunity to maybe change the way we behave as a region and change the way people think about it.

When cast your mind back to 2022, when Kansas City found out it was getting the World Cup and the mayor touted the idea of connecting the airport to downtown by rail.

At that time, former city manager Brian Platt proposed jump starting work on an east west streetcar line, so it can be completed in time for the games in 2026.

Why didn't that happen, and why instead Mario Vazquez?

Are we now instead just leasing 200 busses that we will return after the tournament is ended?

You know, for starters, those are pretty difficult endeavors, right?

I mean, to to extend rail to the airport, to extend rail to, to to get the stadium.

And they're expensive and difficult.

But also you got to keep in mind, you know, we have to do things that make sense for us for the long term.

You know, if it doesn't make sense to do it before the World Cup, it probably doesn't make sense for us to have it.

You been the city manager for a year, but you've been there for almost 30 years.

Yes.

So you must be part of some of these conversations.

So it wasn't taken that seriously.

I mean, I we looked at it, we've looked at it before.

I one of my first jobs when I came.

But as a planner, we looked at light rail to the airport, light rail to other places, and the the economics just don't make sense.

The cost per right or significant?

It doesn't make sense.

It may make sense 20 years from now or 30 years from now, but not today.

Definitely not for for, for a month long event.

Pam Kramer mentioned all the busses and where the routes are going to be, and in fact, it's totally free.

People going from the airport to the FIFA Fan Festival downtown.

$5 to go to all these parking, ride locations that will take you to the stadium and Fan fest, just $5 a day.

Everything from Oak Park Mall to Independence Center.

Great.

And in fact, that actually got a lot of national play that is cheaper in Kansas City than any other city to do those things.

Of course, we are in Kansas City and people here said, oh, who's paying for them?

Mario Vasquez, who is paying for that?

Well, it's a combination.

I think, you know, some federal funding.

We got to come, you know, in some state, and most states, Kansas, Missouri have chipped in some money to, to help with the transportation as well and, and logistics.

But federal funding has gone, played a, a big part of this, and the private sector, partners have also, played a part in that.

How about when you get to the games themselves thinking about the transportation?

Is there going to be any parking at what was called Arrowhead Stadium?

But for the purposes of this event will be called Kansas City Stadium.

Yeah, there will be some parking.

It will be greatly diminished because of the overlay.

So typically, you know, the stadium, we're all familiar with the stadium complex.

The security perimeter will be extended.

So, you know, think of a wider circle around Arrowhead where your ticket will be scanned.

The first time.

Within that, there will be fan activations, hospitality, broadcast, compound, workforce, spaces, all sorts of operation, overlay.

And then, there is just a ton of, VIP movement that takes place in the stadium and remember, the Royals will have 13 games during the time that that we're hosting the World Cup.

So, because, you know, it wasn't complex enough.

So, I mean, I think, you know, make sure, are they going to be able to park there for a Royals game?

They are.

And, we will be announcing soon.

I'll announce it here that you will be able to take a bus from the FIFA Fan Festival for their games to Royal Stadium.

So, again, leveraging that infrastructure, 4 or $5.

And we want to make sure that everybody in the world sees what a great experience it is to see the Royals play the Cardinals, which happens during this, time frame.

We talked about the stadium changing as a free for rule.

You can't have any logos.

And in fact, this week they were taking on hundreds of signs, cheap signs, all the all the sponsors from Ford and Hy-Vee and whoever else was at the Chiefs Stadium all coming down.

Was that the biggest, FIFA rule that you had to abide by?

Was the something else that would surprise our audience?

You know, I think, that FIFA really places great value and rightly so, in their brand and the value of that trophy.

It's the most famous icon in the world.

So they're very protective of it.

So I would say all of the, all of the brand protection policies that are in place, including the clean side of the stadium, not only for us, but educating the community.

If you want to have a watch party, you can't actually use the words World Cup unless you're officially affiliated, things like that.

I think it's more of an education than it is, you know, a huge endeavor.

Stacy Graves mentioned how many offices are coming in from all those states.

Right.

But according to the agreement with FIFA, each government, Mario Vasquez is to assume full responsibility of its own cost for the safety and security of the competition.

So who pays for that?

Well, like I said, you know, the combination of, our funding would take into it and $15 million to the project, to the.

Yeah, to the event.

But we also have contributions from, federal government, state local governments.

And it's a combination of those funds that will play for, the, the time and, of office as they come to the city.

Does that mean there'll be less money for pothole repair and for snow removal next year?

I think these are things that we budgeted for.

So those working inside of our, day to day expenditures, Stacy Griggs, you mentioned, some of the practices that we see in other places.

And we have to be mindful not one was the marching, but alcohol plays a huge role.

And, you know, America has some of the most strict alcohol laws.

You have to be 21.

Most other places don't have that.

We can have a lot of young people here expecting to be drinking.

We have a debate this week about whether we're going to have 23 hour drinking available in Kansas City or what is what is the police department going to how is it going to handle what could be a hordes of underage drinkers?

We want to really work on the prevention side instead of waiting until afterwards, when we have to make an arrest or, maybe someone get sick or a crowd potentially gets out of out of out of whack because of alcohol.

But that's something we're keeping an eye on.

And like I said, working on the prevention side.

I might add to that we are meeting with the consulate, and have been for probably 6 to 9 months, certainly after the final draw, when we knew which countries were coming here.

That really ramped up.

They want their citizens to know, what the laws are before they arrive.

So we are preparing.

No, no.

Before you go, information including we do have the state line and the laws are different, in some cases on both sides of the state line.

So making sure people understand that before they arrive.

In the same way that the State Department would put out information for us before we travel abroad, I think that's an important, important part of the puzzle.

Well, also, if I could also educating our officers on cultural awareness, you know, any kind of, like, de-escalation, all kinds of different additional training as we prepare for World Cup, we were on a forum, over a year ago on another matter.

And I think at that time you were talking about doing foreign language classes for officers.

Did that ever happen?

Did they take you up on it?

Well, we are required to have access to language lines, so we automatically do that.

Now, you would be amazed how many officers we have on our police department and in our region.

Law enforcement officers that know more than one language or actually come from a different country.

So we're also leaning in on some of those officers that we have to have that experience.

And with languages or different countries.

But we also, a lot of our officers also use an app like we're well versed.

This is something that that's that's not new to us.

Yes.

Pam Kremer, I saw the Missouri Restaurant Association has an app too, that will be used in restaurants where you want a QR code.

And so any visiting fans can go to the menu, click on it and it will translate into 28 different languages.

Is that the most creative approach you've seen to try and handle cultural and language barriers or other interesting things that have happened?

I think there.

So I'm so proud of our community.

We've been working with local businesses and communities for, you know, two years.

And again, that final draw, knowing which countries were playing here, things like which, cultures are used to tipping and which are not, what time of day do people want to eat?

You know, Algeria, who will be based camped in Lawrence?

The Lawrence restaurants are really thinking about halal menus and making sure that they can accommodate fans who, who have dietary preferences.

So I think there's so much creativity and what I love is that people are not relying on, on any of us or our teams or, you know, the, the officials to do everything that people are really organizing and, preparing on their own so they can be really disappointed when they realize many people in Kansas City like to eat at 530 for dinner and speak for yourself, okay, we're okay.

That's fine.

That's fine.

I, I'm speaking for myself.

It's basically one other issue in the policing front is, you know, fans showing up.

They may be coming here without tickets.

And we saw that, in the Copa America final in Miami and where hordes of fans without any tickets to start storming the stadium, we're going to turn now to the chaos outside hard Rock Stadium in Miami last night before kickoff of the Copa America final.

Fans without tickets stormed the stadium, some of them climbing with get in to see Argentina take on Colombia, delaying the start of the game.

Tell them they get the crush, forcing children to be passed over fences for their own safety.

The start time of the game pushed back nearly an hour and a half.

Teams were pulled from the field as fans forcibly entered the stadium.

Fans climbing walls, fences, even going through vents.

Have you been watching footage of all of that happening and how is Kansas City responding?

We have watched all kinds of football, soccer fan footage, some of which I'm worried we're going to scare our officers away, but it's it's it's all been good.

We have learned lessons from Miami and how the ticketing was there and making sure we have the secure perimeter around, making sure that we have points in that security posture, that where tickets are checked, whether that's before you board a bus or after you're actually on scene.

You know, we've also stood up a public order unit where our officers are able to respond to any kind of crowd surges.

We've seen lots of headlines, Mario Vasquez, about Kansas City opening a temporary jail, which he doesn't have right now in time for the World Cup.

It isn't open.

Does that concern you, given how many people we're now expecting to be coming into Kansas City and what happens to them?

I think we've worked out some contingency plans on the jail construction, and I don't like to call it a temporary jail.

It is.

It is our municipal facility.

We need to have it in place no matter what.

So we need to we're still intact on that.

But it does take time, I think, for us to train people, officers.

We're not opening a Taco Bell at that time.

This is this is real world.

We're dealing with real people that need real care.

And so we've been very careful with that.

And bringing the people on board and training them is what we're working on right now.

The jail will be completed construction.

We're going to get the keys.

June 1st is just a training that it's lagging.

And will it be opening at full capacity?

It will not for the World Cup, but it will be open eventually.

But I think we're in for hordes of people.

Where do those folks go then?

Well, we will rely on some of those other counties that we already have existing contracts with.

Also, we can also open up some of the spaces within the division, patrol division stations that we have, and also work with, with our city folks and make sure that we accommodate anyone who, tends to get themselves in a situation like that.

And if I could go back for just a second, I really am joking about the fan behavior with our officers being scared.

Our officers are actually very excited to welcome the world and, they nothing, nothing will turn them away from from being a part of a world event like this.

Can you tell all of our viewers to that?

You were joking about me eating at 530.

I you know, my wife knows that's true.

What would you tell her?

That was a joke.

I eat lunch at 11 a.m.. Sir.

We love you for coming up to me first down.

Microphone.

We'd love to hear your question.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Elias.

I spend a lot of my day.

The, a lot of the time with these days, talk with the immigrant community, especially staff with the largest ethnic, community organizations in Metro.

And a lot of them are scared of coordinating with FIFA directly because they fear that their own community will be snatched up by ice.

So my only question right now is whether or not, Pam, specifically, why do we not have the human rights action plan that was supposed to be released yesterday?

Yeah, give me the answer to that first.

Yeah.

So, we do have our human rights plan.

We are actually just waiting to share it with our board of directors.

I do want to make a distinction that, the host committee is not FIFA, that we are a local nonprofit.

So FIFA is a global organization.

We're the organization that, with the city is putting on the event here.

But I do think it's a valid concern.

And I think, you know what, what we're focused on is finding out what we can from the government, what we are being told is that DHS presence will focus and has focus in mega events on anti-human trafficking, on anti-counterfeiting.

But for us to be as welcoming as we can, that's the message that we are trying to convey.

And back to, the city manager's point about, you know, if you if you can't go to a match, how can you participate?

I think each one of us has a responsibility to show Kansas City's welcoming nature and to be friendly and to make people feel comfortable.

And we can do what we can do.

And certainly convey to FIFA to the federal government, the importance of this to Kansas City and what we're hearing from the community.

Will local police be asked to assist with Ice in any way?

Stacy Grace, we have not been asked to assist with Ice in Kansas City during the World Cup.

So you're not having conversations with them?

We are not having conversations with them.

Okay.

That's not usually something that that would occur either way.

Back in January of 25, I put out a statement.

I said, everyone, deserves police service.

If someone calls in an emergency, we're there to to serve you no matter what.

And that being said, the can't say Missouri Police Department is not authorized to enforce immigration policies.

But there is a state law in the state of Missouri that if any federal officer, should request, you know, emergency services from the police department, then we're obligated to act a little, so I give me 20s.

I have a million problems, a million questions.

Here's one of the wealth.

Simply put.

I'm homeless, an unemployed myself.

How does this World Cup bringing this, to Kansas City?

How does that help me get gainful employment?

And how does that get me a home?

Is an excellent job.

Thank you very much.

I would like to answer that question.

I can start off transportation.

So, you know, when you're standing up, regional transit network, it takes people, to, to do that and we will hire thousands of people.

We have put a stipulation in our contract that 80% of those people have to be local.

And so we're in that process right now.

There are job fairs happening, and part of that is providing certification and training so that after the World Cup, people have capability and certification that could lead to future employment.

So I think those are the kind of, you know, fan fest I think we'll hire workforce there.

So, I would say to, be tuned in to the city's job fairs.

We're in all of those, and search for those opportunities that also have the, the long term impact, right where you, you earn that certification as part of the World Cup that you can take to the next job.

And I would say and I said, right.

So housing and homelessness, this is not an issue.

Just, you know, because of the World Cup, there's a long standing issue for Kansas City and for a lot of cities throughout the country.

We are sending up programs as we speak to try to figure out how to, match up homeless individuals with housing opportunities.

It is it is an ongoing issue.

It's not just something that's caused by the World Cup.

So I would not expect for the World Cup to solve all the problems.

But this is definitely one that we're tackling.

But but lots of headlines across the country in host cities about what are we doing with homeless during the World Cup?

Are we just moving them out of sight?

I don't think we're doing anything differently in that matter.

I think there are there are, different kinds of level, you know, homelessness.

You're experiencing a lot of different ways.

You might see the camp, you see camps.

And in the public space, and we managed one that one, one and one way that we see camps and private, you know, people that are trespassing, that's managed differently.

So our response is the same way we respond.

We expect people expect us, to, respect our laws.

So we're not doing anything differently.

Thank you sir, just one more.

Can you make the busses?

Regan?

Okay.

Can you make the busses free again?

I think the, the city council has made it, you know, made the policy decision to not make the busses free again.

Right.

Okay.

We know that there's going to be a lot of law enforcement at the stadium and at the fan Fest, out at the base camps.

We have questions from our own viewers who want to know what's your message to residents were less worried about the visitors and more worried about disruptions in their own neighborhoods.

Our officers being pulled from neighborhoods because everyone now is policing these strategic sites.

I will say every Kansas Missouri Police Department officer will be involved in either continuing basic police services.

We'll still be in the neighborhoods, will still be responding on different types of incidents, all incidents that we we normally do.

And that's exactly why we bring officers out from that, from the outside in, to help us make sure that the World Cup events are safe, and also allows KC PD officers to continue to police the city.

How about police response times?

So in the summer months, sometimes our police response times increase because our call load increases.

But that's again another reason why we're bringing in outside resources to make sure that not only do we have and maintain policing services, but that also doesn't negatively affect our response times.

I'm assuming that, you know, having an officer from Iowa now policing, no.

You know, Mountain City or Born on the road, there is a local cops.

They will be the other.

Yes.

Okay.

Very uniform will be policing Kansas.

Thank you.

Yes.

Hello.

My name is Marion.

Like librarian.

The immigrant non-English speaking people of this community deserve more than a political middle ground answer about their safety and the compliance that this police will have with Ice.

What did you want to hear?

My question is, you mentioned getting to travel to Europe to monitor their behavior and I hope that you had a great time.

My question is, in any of those countries, did the Second Amendment exist?

Meaning the right to bear arms?

Because what we're talking about is an event happening in America where those people will be enabled and arguably encouraged to have firearms.

So what is our plan to deal with that?

And in combination, I would also like to say that there is a direct correlation of an increase in gun violence with increase with increased drinking, since we'll be talking about a 23 hour drinking policy we have planned for not only increase alcohol usage, making sure that we're prepared for any type of language barrier.

We just want people to come to Kansas City, feel welcomed, and have a safe experience.

I might add that the festival, is a secure perimeter magnetometer event.

We will.

It will be a clear bag.

You know, we'll treat it like a stadium.

So we want to make sure that the official activations people understand the rules of what you can and can't bring.

Lots of European soccer fans celebrate with pyrotechnics, smoke bombs and that sort of thing, like educating on the the combination of cultures I think is really important.

And I think from an organizer standpoint, we can do what we can do, which is the events that, that we are putting on.

How do we, how do we provide the environment that is producing a safe and and secure experience and people who go to the fan fest?

I'm in the I'm in the air and okay, that's you.

You've had you've had plenty of sir, I'm Irish.

You're being quite rude by interrupt.

Okay.

I'm sorry.

We have we have.

We've got plenty of other people questions.

You had more than just my Twitter.

Okay.

No, not that is registered by our viewers.

Yes, sir.

I confess I'm not a sports fan.

I'm not a fan of big spectacles.

You said some positive things about public transit.

I don't think transit is prepared for what you have in mind.

We know that it doesn't take much at all to shut down the streetcar and disrupt the entire transit system, because so many transit major transit routes run through the downtown area.

We have contingency plans for the streetcar in particular.

So if for some reason the streetcar shuts down, there will be a what we call a bus bridge.

So backup busses that would run the streetcar route to provide that service.

And those routes, again, they're new routes.

So they're meant to not impact the system.

And I'm not an engineer, but the engineers have been working on it.

They've modeled the bus turn times, the capacity loads.

The streetcar is actually, decreasing headways, meaning the streetcar will run more often.

They're adding capacity.

And it's one part of the transit plan.

I think the Regionality and every one of those 15 bus routes connects into an existing service.

Plus there are parts of the metro, Johnson County, the Northland that are standing up, tournament time circulators.

So if you can take our bus to Overland Park Convention Center, then you can get on the Johnson County link and go to Lenexa City Center, Overland Park.

We would some of the other communities.

So it's, it's an integrated really there's a lot of complexity in the planning.

But our hope is that the, the impact to everyday life is minimal today.

So, graves, you know, that's the transit disruption.

I'm wondering about the disruption on our highways and major thoroughfares.

We have four base camps, for instance, England being in Prairie Village, they are practicing at the facility in Swope Park.

That means that they will have police protection every time they leave that site.

Every time they go to an airport.

Are you shutting down all the streets during that period of time from Friday village to slow park, and you're on the Kansas City, Missouri side.

How does that work?

We are working hand in hand with our regional partners.

We've even, hosted some escort trainings, several escort trainings with our motorcycle squads.

But, there will be some congestion, there will be some street disruptions.

But, you know, we are going to move that right along.

We are used to doing escorts.

We do team escorts for any type of sporting event that comes in here.

That will be a little bit of a disruption, both to the less of the degree than we we hope that it would.

It cause too many problems in some respects.

It's also different with a lot more complexity.

You have all the fee for officials.

They get escorts as well.

Plus we could have heads of state from all of these countries.

You know, we could have at the base camp with England, you know, you could potentially have, Prince William and Prince Harry are coming out to go and visit them there.

Now, that's a whole new complexity.

We could have royal family members from some of the other nations coming in from the, you know, the king of the Netherlands coming in for a game.

Yeah.

I mean, I think this again, the six matchdays, I think, is when we're most likely to see the impact.

Keep in mind, there are going to be lots fewer people driving to the stadium because of the parking situation.

So, in theory, there could be an offset.

I think you know what that looks like and feels like on a, on a match day.

You know, there is a bit of an unknown there.

I think the, police escort, that is a, level of complexity.

And the work that's being done there across jurisdiction, just to model those movements in the time of day and you know, who's going where when.

I'm glad that Chief Graves and and her partners are, managing that because it is, it's pretty extraordinary.

Absolutely.

And we have a question from you.

I own a small business in crossroads.

We talked to a lot of other small businesses.

This is for Pam.

We are desperate for information about who is coming.

When are they coming?

How long are they staying, and what are they going to do?

It's been planned for ten years now.

So is your little countdown is indicating it's less than four weeks away.

When are we going to start getting some information?

Yeah.

So we shared this week.

So first of all remember the teams were not identified.

Oh we know that okay.

So we we shared information this week that at the Ephesus and Festival we know that people have registered from 116 countries.

We know that of the 65,000 seats at Arrowhead, you know, 30,000 of those have been purchased outside of the United States.

That is information we didn't have arriving in to Kansas City.

So I think part of it is we don't know yet.

Right?

I think the data is coming in.

It's a little later than we thought.

We're hearing that.

And remember, we control what we control.

FIFA controls the tickets.

They they share the information when they share it with us.

We're not withholding information.

I think our interest is in making sure that every, local business has what they need.

And has what we have, right?

We've worked really hard to do that.

But I also understand there's a lot of uncertainty, and, I can't know what I don't know.

I wish I could tell you exactly who's arriving on what date.

The airport has added 46,000 seats in capacity, and utilization is up, year over year, where the only host city where capacity has been added.

So that's encouraging to me.

But, you know, we're watching it as you are.

And I think that, the next few days really week over week will be is your main concern that about staffing when you should have.

So our, our main concern and I will say that, we're a retail store.

Not as much.

In fact, I talked to a lot of restaurants and bars.

The thing that lives and keeps them awake at night is the NFL draft.

And what a huge debacle that is.

And our biggest concern is that all of our local supporters are going to stay away because of the congestion, the heads of state, the whatevers, and they're going to stay away.

And the tourism is simply not going to anywhere near make up for it.

And we are hearing this every single day.

I think this is a little bit different because the NFL is a different it's a three day event.

It was very pretty much center around, Liberty Memorial.

This event is almost a month long event.

Intensity.

We have not just games, we have practices.

People that come to visit and say in Kansas City to watch their teams practice.

So the visitation is different.

We have several entertainment districts that are being activated at different times, to accommodate for that.

So there are marked differences between what we're going to experience, with the World Cup as opposed to what we expect, the NFL draft.

We also intentionally designed the FIFA Fan Festival to be closed on certain days, and to be a smaller capacity than in a high draft.

So the max capacity at any one time is 25,000 people.

That was intentional because we want people to go to other parts of the metro.

We'll be promoting other watch parties.

We'll be sending people to other, other, areas.

If you have a business and you haven't yet, we are collecting information.

There's a QR code on our website.

You can scan, fill out your business information so that we present that business to visitors and locals alike.

But I think we are also seeing strong local engagement, I mean, people, the biggest day so far, our fan festival is June 13th, which is before matches start.

And it's because the Chainsmokers are playing.

And so I think, you know, that I would guess, that's a lot of local people.

So I think you're going to get both.

It just depends on the day and what's happening.

Yes, sir.

Hi.

Can you expand a little bit on the communication plan?

Where's the best place for people to go to now to find out, transportation plans, bus routes, etc.?

And then also what's going to be the best way for us to get information during the World Cup, during that five, 4 or 5 weeks that it's happening?

Yeah.

Thank you for asking that.

Casey 2020 6.com.

Which includes transportation information, how to get transportation passes, the FIFA Fan festival schedule, the match schedule, really any updates that we have will be there.

We will also have a WhatsApp channel, which is a very, prominent way that international travelers communicate.

So if you communicate on WhatsApp, you can sign up for our emails, which lots of people have done already.

And then, of course, we'll share information with local media.

Has the president's immigration crackdown impacted international participation?

Either have you experienced that or do you expect it?

Thank you very much.

Yeah.

Prima.

What we're seeing, and it's hard to tell what, you know, I'm not sure we would have known what to expect from Algeria or Tunisia.

But Ecuador and Argentina fans are traveling.

They are coming.

So I think it's hard to know what the impact of any one policy has been.

I think we're encouraged by the the visitor, visitor numbers.

We're seeing there are a lot of things you don't control.

What is the one thing that keeps you up at night now, thinking about what you have to prepare for for the World Cup that we may not be ready for or ready.

Really?

All right, all right.

If there's one thing I want to see up at night, it's, I'm telling you, we're excited, and I'll.

I feel like we heard about this two years ago.

We've had full time staff dedicated specifically for the preparation of World Cup.

I'm ready for it to be tomorrow.

Like I'm ready to go.

Well, I want to talk a little bit about legacy before we leave because we think about what what what is left after all of this got to when it promoted the 2020 2022 World Cup?

Should I say they talked about it as the greenest games ever.

Los Angeles is promising a car free Olympics in 2028.

What's our legacy going to be after the final whistle blows?

Pam Kramer Yes, there really are three ways we're thinking about legacy.

The first is, rising on the world stage, putting Kansas City forward.

Mario talked about it changing the way people think, or just getting people to think about Kansas City.

The second is confidence in our people.

I mean, I think, skepticism is healthy, but I think we've already proven that we can do things that are unexpected for a city of our size.

If we all just work together and believe that we can do it, that is a it's hard to measure that.

But I think, if we can show that we do this and do this well, it will be transformational.

And related to that is attracting new business.

And then finally is the post World Cup, you know, are there programs, particularly around access to soccer and growing the game in, what U.S.

soccer would call soccer deserts and making sure that all kids can participate, in soccer.

Five years after the World Cup leaves town, Mario Vasquez watching Kansas City and be able to point to and say, that's because of this.

Well, I saw the Women's World Cup coming up in 2031.

Is that is something that, we have thrown our hats in the ring for that.

And I think one of the reasons why we feel confident doing that, because we have had the experience of hosting that event, that that is the one thing we can point in five years from now, five years from now, I think we're also going to see ourselves, having had the experience of working together as a region, I think, like Pam said, you know, the last time I worked as a region was Union Station.

We got a break that we got to make that more of a regular thing, and we got to be we got to demonstrate to ourselves that we can work together.

We can trust each other to work together.

It seems like every day right now, there has to be a negative headline about the World Cup right here in Kansas City.

Hotel bookings are down or whatever happens to be.

But how do you measure success?

Quick creamer.

And if it does fall short, how do we hold ourselves accountable?

And who do we hold accountable?

I mean, I think, you know, I always say that I want the headline to be out of the small so city become the heart of the World Cup.

I think if we, can come together and participate and show authentically who we are, it's one of the reasons I really don't want people to rent out their houses, because I want them here, and shaking hands and welcoming people and giving directions, that will be that will be extraordinary.

I think measuring short term tourism impact is important.

And then we have studies, in place over the long term to show not only are people coming this summer do they come back next summer.

Is 27 more than 25?

We can take the World Cup out as an anomaly.

I think those are the things that we'll be looking at.

Given how excited you all, Stacy Graves and you want the World Cup to start tomorrow.

Does that mean we can expect you to be behind the bid for the Olympics in 2036?

In Kansas City?

The women's World Cup?

Yes.

And going back to that question is.

And what what keeps me up at night, I will tell you, just as the chief of police with any of these large events, you know, we I if I've learned anything being in this position is what we can control.

We will absolutely deploy our people in the best using best practices.

And we will prepare for our for whatever comes our way.

There is always things that are outside of our control, but our people are your police department, and those law enforcement agencies around us are ready and prepared for whatever comes our way for the appropriate and effective response.

Mario Vasquez, you know, since we're going back to the beginning.

So why don't you ask me, how do I sleep at night?

And the reason I sleep on night is because, I have seen our staff have seen our, you know, the professionalism and preparing and the preparation has gone into this.

People don't may or may not know this, but a lot of the transportation professionals, the best are in Kansas City.

These are the folks that help, help, help us plan this event all throughout the, you know, the last year city manager, all I've heard is that Kansas City has been ahead of other communities in this preparation for the World Cup with respect to public safety, and that continues to be the case.

That's why I sleep well at night, because I know our people are prepared.

Can you turn the tables for us?

One moment then.

Pam Creamer, what has the media got wrong about this World Cup?

I think the, you know, I think they're not reporting enough of how we're proving people wrong.

I think, again, if I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times before the teams are announced.

There's no way people will put a big team in Kansas City.

We have the reigning world champions with the most popular player in the world starting their defense of the title in Kansas City.

That doesn't happen unless something good is happening here.

And I think, you know, the, the excitement that's coming and the way that we welcome the world, can really change the, the way we see ourselves.

And you have been watching Kansas City Police Chief Stacy Graves, the CEO of KC 2026, Pam Creamer, and our city manager, Mario Vasquez.

And I'm Nick Haynes from our partners at the Kansas City Library.

Be well, keep calm and carry on.

Okay.