Mike’s detailed answers to the LJWorld’s questions in the voter guide:
- Hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected in the Kansas City area for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and Lawrence will be raising its guest tax on hotel stays in anticipation of that. What else should the city do to make the most of the opportunity presented by the World Cup?
Kansas City is scheduled to have a quarterfinal match in the 2026 World Cup. If you look at the quarterfinal teams in 2022, there was Argentina, the Netherlands, Brazil, England, and France. These are all international powerhouse soccer teams and fan bases. We should expect that one of these teams will want to be close to the KC quarterfinal site. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of those major teams chose Lawrence as their base camp.
Lawrence should prepare to make the most of the influx of tourism and international attention from the World Cup. Our community should temporarily reduce all barriers to allow Lawrence residents to rent their homes or rooms through programs like Airbnb or Vrbo. Once a team has decided to use Lawrence as their basecamp, we need to make sure that our local restaurants and businesses support the electronic payment apps and currencies that their country and fans use. Our community also needs to make sure that our public safety and transportation services are prepared for additional strains from this influx of visitors, and local agencies, including the City, County, and KU, have been coordinating some of these preparations to make sure our community is ready.
During the World Cup, more heads of state and business executives will visit our region than any other time in the next generation. We should create a “Why Lawrence” marketing campaign to capitalize on the international exposure our community will get during the World Cup games. Because of our highly educated workforce and vibrant, welcoming culture, Lawrence should be a highly attractive community to companies. The World Cup will be an invaluable opportunity to show national and international leaders that Lawrence would be a great place to invest in.