Your Chamber at Work - July 17, 2023

How will the World Cup be different from the recent NFL Draft?

We’ve been hearing that question repeatedly as the KC Chamber and KC2026 (the nonprofit group coordinating KC’s World Cup) held six stakeholder engagement sessions – in Lee’s Summit, Overland Park, Kansas City, Kansas, the East Side, Northland, and West Side.

The World Cup will be very different from the NFL Draft. For one thing, it will last for 37 days rather than just three. It will attract thousands of people from around the world to Kansas City, many who will stay for the duration. That’s 37 days – when visitors will have ample opportunity to sample our restaurants, enjoy our attractions, and stay in local hotels. Kansas City will be more in control of delivering an engaging experience to World Cup fans. The responsibility is on all of us to be as creative and collaborative as we can.

Think of the World Cup 2026 as a month of Taylor Swift concerts – filling up hotels with out-of-towners, and a buzz that will be unbelievable. After the World Cup, I don’t think we’ll be able to call Kansas City the nation’s best-kept secret anymore. The eyes of the world will be upon us.

Here’s a fun statistic that explains that claim: the World Cup had 1.013-billion people watching; in contrast, the Super Bowl had 114.4-million. So World Cup = about 10 Super Bowls.

Some of the other questions we heard during the stakeholder sessions:

• How can small businesses be more included in the World Cup activities, versus the experience had in the NFL Draft?
• How can my city/community/business/nonprofit/volunteer group get involved and activate?
• What legacy can the World Cup create for the region?

As we told those we met with, we’ll have a lot more answers once FIFA releases the match schedule, probably this fall. We’ll know then how many matches will be held in our region and whether we get a quarter-finals game. We’re hoping to get between 6 and 8 matches.

KC2026 also plans to release a ‘toolkit’ that will help small businesses and communities activate and engage.

The Chair of the KC2026 Board, Karen Daniel (past Chair of the KC Chamber), says, “As KC2026 continues to operationalize and build a strategic plan, hearing from stakeholders in and around Kansas City provides valuable feedback. We are committed to transparency, inclusivity and engagement throughout this project, and this is a positive first step.”

The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce is proud to partner with our area chambers of commerce in Johnson County to provide information about the upcoming local elections. The primary is scheduled for August 1 with the general election set for November 7.

To help make informed decisions, visit VoteJoco.com. There you’ll find important election dates for the 2023 election cycle, candidate profiles and surveys, as well as information about upcoming candidate forums and voter registration.

For more information, please contact Katrina Abraham on our Public Policy team at kabraham@kcchamber.com. And don’t forget to vote!

The KC Chamber’s Neighborhood Networking series is heading for the West Side.  On Friday, August 11, join us for a morning session of networking with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City. It begins at 8:30 a.m.

The national U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce was founded here in Kansas City at the Hispanic Chamber thanks to local businessman Hector Barreto Sr. The local Hispanic Chamber was founded in 1977 by 25 business leaders who saw the need for an organization that would represent their interests. Today, the Hispanic Chamber helps its members with everything from business planning, procurement, the MBE/WBE certification process, sales and marketing, and more.

Register here if you’d like to attend.

And don’t forget the Neighborhood Networking session scheduled for Park University on July 28. Click here for more information and to register.

The KC Chamber's 2023 overall networking sponsors are Delta Dental and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. The KC Chamber's 2023 Neighborhood Networking sponsors are Rock CFO, Southwest Airlines & Unbound.

The KC Chamber’s Healthy KC is supporting the American Red Cross Blood Drive, scheduled for Monday, July 31 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The drive will be held in the Chamber Board Room in Union Station, 30 West Pershing, KCMO.

And there’s an incentive to donate! Those who donate their blood will receive a free ticket to Worlds of Fun.

If you’re interested in helping, here’s the link to register. We hope to see you there!

If you’ve benefited from your KC Chamber membership, share the news! Invite a friend to join.

Tell them to contact Shannon Spiess, our Membership Development Manager, at (816) 374-5464 or email spiess@kcchamber.com.

Shannon’s a whiz at helping businesses reach their goals through the KC Chamber. In fact, later this summer, she’s being honored for her success at our national chamber convention, the American Chamber of Commerce Executives. Congratulations, Shannon! We always knew you were a star.