The countdown has officially begun to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be hosted across North America, including in Kansas City.
Local officials on Monday morning unveiled a World Cup countdown clock in front of the fieldhouse at Overland Park’s Scheels Soccer Complex near 135th Street and Switzer Road. The event followed a weekend World Cup kickoff party at the Aspiria campus in Overland Park.
Pam Kramer, CEO of the KC2026 nonprofit, said locations like the soccer complex helped strengthen the metro’s collective bid to be a host city for the World Cup, billing itself as a soccer capital.
In addition to the clock unveiling, goats and other animals from the neighboring Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead played soccer in a temporary fenced-in pen on the lawn in front of the fieldhouse.
The 10-foot-tall, heart-shaped clock features a digital ticker sign that shows the countdown in days, hours and minutes until the first game begins.
“We encourage everybody in Overland Park and the Kansas City metropolitan area to come by and take a picture,” Mayor Curt Skoog said Monday, “because we are so excited about World Cup 2026 being in Kansas City.”
Another KC2026 countdown clock is posted up at Union Station as well. Plus, FIFA sent its own clock, which is also at Union Station currently.
Johnson County cities are preparing for World Cup
Though Overland Park is no longer in the running as a potential base camp location for visiting teams, the city and other local communities are starting to prepare to welcome sports fans from all over the world.
That being said, several cities are still hammering out specifics. For instance, in Olathe, city officials are still working to collaborate in order “to strategize effective use of resources” with the Mid-America Regional Council and the county government, said Cody Kennedy, the city’s chief communications officer.
He said the focus is on arranging events that are “the best bang for your buck” for communities. The hope, Kennedy said, is to “pool resources for a few larger events,” though what exactly that might look like is unclear.
Overland Park is also still developing its plans, said Meg Ralph, the city’s director of strategic communications. However, the city has previously discussed hosting World Cup watch parties and other public events at the new farmers market pavilion in 2026.
The city of Leawood is also in its “early brainstorming phase,” but looking at opportunities to celebrate the World Cup in the city, said Beth Breitenstein, strategic communications director for the city of Leawood.
“At this time, nothing is finalized, but a local committee is actively meeting and exploring a variety of ideas for how Leawood might participate in the excitement around the World Cup,” she said.
Since 2024, organizations in Lenexa have been gearing up for the World Cup with the collaborative group Pitch Lenexa already having three planned events for when the tournament comes to town, with three watch parties in Lenexa City Center for the group stage matches on June 12 and 25, 2026, and the quarterfinal match on July 11, 2026.
Shawnee looking at music event for the World Cup
At the Shawnee City Council meeting on Monday, City Manager Paul Kramer presented a plan for a one-day “Americana and Ales” event that would take place in downtown Shawnee on June 20, 2026, during one of the group stage matches in Kansas City.
“With each locality, you’re trying to find something that’s unique, something that sets you apart from the other communities in the area, so that you can set a date, so that you can get it on the regional World Cup calendar, so that you can sort of mark what your territory is,” he said. “In this case, for Shawnee, the presentation tonight is an Americana and Ales event… to showcase our downtown.”
The event is a collaboration of the following:
- The Shawnee Chamber of Commerce.
- Business developer Eddie Crane with Complete Construction Services and Travis Fields, operations manager at Bluefox Productions, who both formerly ran the Westport Saloon in Kansas City, Missouri.
- Andrew Morris, a musician.
Speaking to the city council, Crane said he was inspired by the city’s Moonlight Market events and wanted to piggyback off of that idea.
“You could put a stage right here in front of City Hall, have a tent, have vendors, have all the bars and the hospitality involved, and then you also have the (Aztec Theater),” he said. “You could essentially have two stages of shows operating (complementary with) family-friendly bluegrass (and) Americana.”
Organizers are requesting $110,000 from the city for the event, with the chance that it could be lowered through sponsorships and grants.
“The balance request for that signature event would be, right now, $80,000. We certainly have those funds available in either transient guest tax funds or (economic development) funding,” Kramer said.
While the funding will be officially voted on by the city council at its July 14 meeting, some council members like Kurt Knappen and Tony Gillette seemed open to it.
“I think the exposure to downtown Shawnee at an event like this is fabulous and is huge. It puts us on the map regionally, gives people a reason to come to downtown Shawnee and be exposed to what we’ve been able to accomplish here in downtown the last five, six years,” Gillette said.
Other council members, like Angela Stiens and Jacklynn Walters, wanted more information in order to get an idea of the city’s prospective return on investment for hosting an event during the World Cup.
'Welcoming the world' to the area
During the countdown clock’s unveiling on Monday, Johnson County Chairman Mike Kelly said there is a lot of “joy that comes with welcoming the world” to the community.
“Even in difficult times, the world comes together for this big sporting event that unites people, and we are so pleased to host the world and to showcase what we have here in Johnson County and in the metro region,” he said.
Skoog also encouraged residents to interact with those visitors when they arrive next year and “make them feel welcome in our community.” He suggested telling visitors about your favorite local place to eat or hang out.
“I don’t know about you, but when I travel, I always like to get the local flavor,” he said.
This story was originally published by the Johnson County Post. Andrew Gaug contributed to this story.
