Keep the World Cups coming, Kansas City says.
The Men’s Rugby World Cup is coming to the U.S. for the first time in 2031 and the Women’s Rugby World Cup will be here in 2033. Kansas City wants to host both.
The U.S. was selected to host the Rugby World Cup events three years ago and selecting bid-winning cities won’t happen until late in 2027, said Ross Young, general manager of U.S. operations for the 2031 and 2033 World Cups.
Some 27 cities attended a summit for potential hosts last summer, and at last 12 could be selected for matches.
Young was in town for two days this week exploring Kansas City as a potential site.
Impressions?
“Very welcoming,” he said. “We’ve seen that in all the meetings with the various stakeholders.”
That includes the Chiefs. Their stadium would be the site of matches, no matter where that stadium may be. With leases expiring at Arrowhead Stadium and Kauffman Stadium in 2031, the Chiefs and Royals are exploring potential future sites away from the Truman Sports Complex.
“They’re very aware of the stadium discussions that are happening,” Kansas City Sports Commission president Kathy Nelson said.
The Rugby World Cup will have to work with the NFL for stadium availability. The 2031 event is scheduled for September and October, the first two months of the NFL season.
The event requires a playing surface that’s larger than a football field. Rugby fields are 100 meters (109.3 yards) long and 70 meters (76.6) wide. Stadiums like Arrowhead are in the process of expanding for soccer’s 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Six World Cup soccer games will be played in Kansas City next year.
“I think we’re fortunate that FIFA has come before it with a number of adaptations,” Young said. “We saw Arrowhead and that they’re able to put a full sized soccer field there. The general rule is, if you can be FIFA compliant, we can manipulate a rugby field that can make it compatible.”
The soccer event could give Kansas City an infrastructure advantage, too. Like FIFA’s global event, the Rugby World Cup comes with team base camps and fan fests.
“We’ll have had visitors on a global stage, have set up a transportation system,” Nelson said. “Hosting in 2026 allows us to get bigger and better for 2031.”
The 2027 and 2029 men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups will be played in Australia. In 2027, 24 nations will compete in a six-week (seven-weekend) window in October and November. Australia is expecting $2 billion in economic impact.