KEY QUOTE: "Much like Atlanta landing the 1996 Summer Olympics, Kansas City’s World Cup hosting turn should be a growth engine benefiting the city that straddles both Missouri and Kansas, as well as the entire heartland region."

The World Cup's Biggest Winner May Be Kansas City

-- Kansas City is now a World Cup city. For residents of 15 or so states, it’s the closest World Cup city to where they live. And it also has the cheapest housing of any of the 11 American World Cup host cities.

-- Kansas City emerged as the sole representative of the US Midwest after Chicago and Detroit — both 1994 hosts — fell out earlier in the selection process, and Cincinnati missed the final cut. It’s impressive to beat out bigger, more well-known cities such as Washington, Denver and Nashville. 

-- For the other 10 American host cities the World Cup will be a month-long party. For Kansas City, it’s an opportunity to capitalize on the growth of the new heartland and to stake its claim as the cultural hub of the region.

-- The combination of people moving to the middle of the country in search of cheaper housing, plus the growth of soccer in America, plus Kansas City’s reputation as being a regional sports hub and soccer hotspot made it a city to watch even before the World Cup announcement. Now the World Cup raises the ceiling of what’s possible.