Next President Elect Jared Campbell, called the meeting to order and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Jane Lee provided us with a prayerful Invocation. Tom Woolwine led us in singing, Happy Birthday, to our March Birthday Rotarian Club members: Kara Bennett, Sally Bibb and Tim Tholen.
Club Anniversaries : Evie Craig – 21 yrs March 3rd Lisa Hickok - 9 yrs March 3rd Chris Boland – 43 yrs March 12th Tom Woolwine – 5 yrs March 13
Mandy Sheldon noted while we had no guests at our rainy day meeting, we did have a new Rotarian with us, Kristin Robinson, who will be more formally introduced a later meeting.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
This week’s Greeters were the March Birthday Rotarians.
Tucker Clark alerted us to upcoming Shoes for Orphan Souls.
Tom Woolwine spoke about Greater KC Day Sponsorships & ticket sales: (1) At yesterday’s kickoff event, we had over 30 attendees, including Rotarians from local Rotary Clubs. Eric Bubb and Monarch’s club owner each spoke. The Monarch are all in on this. (2) On May 15th we will have our Kick Off Dinner and Gala. Major guest commitments include former Chief Christian Okoye and TV actor Eric Stonestreet. (3) $2 dollars per ticket will go directly to Rotary Camp. (4) There are sponsorship opportunities for club members, businesses and the general public.
Jane Lee promoted the March 14th social event at Do Good (5 to 7 pm, 413 E. 18th St, KCMO – No Charge! The non-profit store benefits Wayside Waifs and Kids TLC). Remember we have NO lunch meeting March 14th in respect to the Big 12 Basketball Tournament.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
March 14th Do Good Co. – Social Event
March 21st 5:30 pm After Hours at Minsky’s – no lunch meeting (speaker will e Kevin Collison)
April 13th – Sleep in Heavenly Peace Bed Build event
April 16th – New Theatre Event: Elvis: Aloka from Vegas – sign up by MARCH 14 (!)
PRESENTATION:
Jared Campbell introduced our speaker, Joe Reardon, former Kansas City, Kansas mayor and current President/CEO of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce. Joe has held several positions with various governmental entities. Joe attended KU Law School after graduating from Rockhurst University. The focus of Joe’s comments was the pending 2026 FIFA World Soccer Cup playoffs and its global & local impact on metro Kansas City.
Kansas City was one of sixteen cities chosen for the North American setting, only the second time played in North America. The last time was in 1994. The FIFA World Cup is by far the largest sporting event in the world. The World Cup is played every four years (versus annually) and has strong national ties. The 2026 World Cup will be the largest with 48 teams (nations) competing versus 32 teams previously. There will be 12 groups versus 8 in 2022. It will last 37 days versus 28 days in 2022. And there will be 104 matches (up from 64 matches in 2022). In terms of viewership, the last World Cup drew 1.013 billion viewers vs the last Super Bowl drawing 114.3 million and the NBA drawing 75 million.
Citizens from other counties make the World Cup their every fourth year month long vacation. In other countries, a month-long vacation is not abnormal and families save up for the trip. We should expect a large influx of World Cup fans.
As to Kansas City, when you look at the North American map of the sixteen city sites, Kansas City jumps out as the center spot. Other than Dallas and Atlanta, every other site city in on one of the coasts (or the rim of North America). The advantage here is that none of the other 15 cite cities is longer than a 4-hour plane ride from Kansas City. So, we can be a great staging area. With 48 teams and 16 city sites, Kansas City should get at least three team base sites at soccer facilities in and around metro Kansas City.
Arrowhead Stadium will get the following six games:
6/16/2026 - Group Stage, 6/20/2026 - Group Stage, 6/25/2026 - Group Stage, 6/27/2026 - Group Stage, 7/03/202 - Round of 32, 7/11/2026 - Quarter Final
By comparison with other 15 city sites, only five got more matches than Kansas City.
Kansas City will be in a good place to showcase itself with the extended street car line from CPKC ‘s Women’s Soccer Stadium to the Country Club Plaza, the new downtown Kauffman Stadium - Royals Baseball Park and the Big Lid over I-70 connecting the Kauffman Stadium with T-Mobile Arena and Downtown with the Cross Roads District.
There will be a free FanFest area either where the NFL Draft was held or in front lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum* (* note – ranks among the 10 largest art museums in the United States). There will also be fan areas around Arrowhead Stadium in what otherwise are the parking lots.
This will provide Kansas City an opportunity to showcase and market itself to the World.
Today’s Quote: "The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members." Coretta Scott King
Please join the Rotary Book Discussion Group for the discussion of the book Horse by Geraldine Brooks. The book is available at Rainy Day Books and the discussion will be led by Vivien Jennings. All Rotarians and guests are welcome. The group will meet at J. Wilbur Company.
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