Early Tuesday morning, more than 200 people took over the National WWI Museum and Memorial lawn to prepare for worst-case scenarios.
The site will host Kansas City’s FIFA Fan Festival, which begins June 12. It’s also just outside Union Station, near where the 2024 mass shooting at the Chiefs victory parade happened – making security for this summer’s events top of mind.
Mayor Quinton Lucas says that Kansas City will be the most prepared of the World Cup host cities.
“We will be ready,” Lucas said. “We will be able to pick up a phone and quickly call anyone in any agency in our country, in our states or in any of our localities, and we’ll be able to make sure that the people of Kansas City and our visitors stay safe.”
Lucas also said the city is working to ensure that resources stay focused on serving the local community as well, outside of the World Cup.
“We will continue to respond to regular 911 calls, you will continue to have a city that is open, that works for you, while also welcoming a whole lot of company as well,” Lucas said.
The Kansas City Police Department started preparing for the global event as soon as FIFA selected Kansas City for games. Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves says the training exercise will allow law enforcement to practice responding to emergency incidents as they expect to do when the tournament kicks off in June.
“Exercises like today’s will give us the ability to test our connections and communications with a wide variety of public safety officials throughout our region and beyond,” Graves said.
KC2026 Chief Operations Officer Lindsey Douglas said the training exercise is the only full-scale exercise that organizers will host where they can act out various scenarios and security plans in an environment that simulates a real-life situation.
“We will continue to do tabletop exercises and additional meetings just to review what was experienced today,” Douglas said. “If there's a need to do some last-minute or just-in-time exercise or training, we plan to do that as well.”
People can attend the fan festival for free on a first-come, first-served basis. Entry to the festival will require advance registration and is subject to capacity.
Transportation from the festival to GEHA Arrowhead Stadium, which will be renamed Kansas City Stadium for the tournament, requires advance registration. But prices will be tame compared to some transit plans announced in coastal host cities.
Douglas said KC2026 and the KCPD are working to understand fan behaviors and football event culture so they can determine what level of security measure is needed at the festival.
“We want everybody to come here and experience it and know that themselves and their families are all safe to attend and to enjoy the events,” Douglas said.
