Kehoe sees World Cup as opportunity to show off Missouri on global stage

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Missouri history will be made this summer, as the state hosts its first World Cup matches.

It's a moment that has been more than 30 years in the making, as Missouri originally tried to host World Cup games the first time the global event came to the United States in 1994. But, after being passed over all those years ago, the state of Missouri will not only host matches, but have the reigning World Cup champions in Kansas City.

Group stage action will kick off in Kansas City on Tuesday when Algeria faces Argentina, the reigning title holders. Ahead of that match, Gov. Mike Kehoe sat down with ABC 17 Sports Director Nathalie Jones to break down his hopes and expectations for this summer, from both a safety and economic standpoint.

You can find the transcript of their full interview below.

Nathalie Jones: "Just take me through the lead up [to the World Cup]. How much work was it when you talk about from getting the World Cup and getting the bid in and then all the lead up to just planning for these few weeks that are coming up? What's it been like?"

Gov. Mike Kehoe: "Well, just putting the bid in happened several years ago, so that was an incredible application, over 700 pages, as I recall, just to try to get them to consider Kansas City. That happened several years ago. I will tell you, the Kansas City folks, their Convention and Visitors Bureau, their Sports Commission, they did a wonderful job of really thinking outside the box, saying we have a chance to land this, let's go for it. With a lot of effort and a lot of help from a lot of people, we were fortunate."

Jones: "I mean, now that it's finally arriving, just on your end of all this work finally coming to a culmination, what was the excitement of it being here and getting to see it all play out?"

Kehoe: "Yeah, I was just in Kansas City last week and talking to some folks there and it's like it's finally here. We can't hardly believe it, so we're very excited. We think it's going to be a great opportunity for the state of Missouri to literally show the world what a great place we live in, work in, and raise a family at."

Jones: "I mean, Argentina arriving, obviously one of the biggest soccer teams in the world and having their base camp here and so many eyes on the state of Missouri, what do you hope people see about the state of Missouri over these next few weeks?"

Kehoe: "Well, I will tell you, the international community probably doesn't know exactly where Missouri is. I mean, when I travel on economic trade missions, you get a lot of people say, 'Where exactly is Missouri in the United States?' This is our opportunity, like I said, to really show people what we're all about and we certainly hope, as a state, that we're able to use this as an economic development opportunity to let companies and businesses and individuals know from around the globe what a great place Missouri is to have a business."

Jones: "I was just going to ask, the economic benefits of this. What do you expect them to be and how do you really gage that once you're going through the World Cup?"

Kehoe: "Well, we can just look at what other host cities have done in the past, you know, they hold the World Cup every four years, so you try to kind of figure out and extrapolate what that's going to mean. We estimate it will be somewhere between &900 million and a $1 billion of economic activity in just a 34 day period. So, that's massive, and that's just for the state of Missouri. So, we think that the economic impact on our state and our communities in the region will be significant and we hope the long-term relationships we gain from some of these visitors really comes back, as well."

Jones: "From a transportation aspect, I mean, it's such a huge influx of people coming into the state of Missouri. What's kind of been the steps in making sure you know everyone in Kansas City and around is prepared for that kind of influx?"

Kehoe: "Well, the great community leaders, with help from around the state and really from help around the United States, have been working on how to move these 10s of 1000s of people in and out of different venues. Whether it's the fan fest or whether it's the actual match itself. So, I would tell you that the transportation piece has probably been worked on over two years, maybe up to three years on logistics and how that might all work. People from other parts of the world are very used to public transportation, much more than they are here in the United States, so us upping our game to prepare for those visitors has been a major challenge, but one we're ready for."

Jones: "I mean, from a public safety perspective, that's obviously another topic of conversation. How do you make sure you're prepared just when you have so many visitors and obviously a lot of passion coming to the United States and Missouri. You know, how do you make sure you're prepared on that end?"

Kehoe: "You want people to have a good time, but you want them to be safe. That can really hurt the event if we don't have a great public safety effort. Again, over two years of a combined efforts of various public safety organizations, we actually signed an executive order here in our office that allowed the collaboration of different public safety communities to come together with an operation center. They're really going to have a lot of focus with National Guard, Missouri Highway Patrol, obviously local policing authorities, KCPD being the lead. They've done a great job. They have somebody within Kansas City Police Department that just been working on this for years. Other police departments from around the state literally are sending people to help with this effort. So, we're gonna make sure people are safe."

Jones: "Have you gotten to talk to maybe cities in different states that have hosted an event maybe of this kind of magnitude about, 'hey, what are some things that we can do to make sure we're doing this right?'"

Kehoe: "Well, here in the states, since we haven't hosted a World Cup in decades, really what we've talked to is some other cities that have hosted Super Bowls, because the six games we'll have, they say, it's going to be like having six Super Bowls. So, major venues, whether it's Super Bowl, World Series, et cetera, we've been talking to some of those communities about what to expect in this big fluctuation of folks that are going to come into the region."

Jones: "Is there anything you feel like when you're in this lead up that you need more of right now, whether it be busses or police? Is there anything you guys feel like you're needing more of?"

Kehoe: "Well, we're going to need patience, because there's going to be a whole lot of people in the Kansas City area that are excited to be there. All of them know they can't exactly all go to the game, but there's so many other activities happening in the Kansas City area that's going to be exciting to do and people are just going to be part of it. Even here in Central Missouri, we have two or three different venues who are going to be having watch parties along with each one of the six games, so you're going to see a ripple effect across Missouri and the Midwest, for that matter, on what's happening in Kansas City."

Jones: "You just touched on it, but so much of the focus is on, obviously, the economic impact and just the impact of the eyes being on Kansas City, but how can this affect, you know, Mid-Missouri and the whole state as a whole?"

Kehoe: "If you have a soccer field anywhere in your community, this is going to affect you. We're going to see that even kids, small kids groups, high school age groups, etc. They're all kind of playing off of the World Cup being here with different events and different kind of things to celebrate FIFA. In Jefferson City, there's a brand new soccer complex here and they're just absolutely excited about it. Columbia has a different soccer complexes, they're excited about it. So, we're going to see soccer, or as the international community calls it football, like we've never seen it before."

Jones: "10 years down the line, when you're looking at this, how would you gage this World Cup was a success in Missouri? How would you gage that?"

Kehoe: "Number one, that people are safe and that they had a good time. Number two is that we get some sort of effect from it later from the international community, especially in the economic development world. I think, again, this is our chance to showcase who we are."

Jones: "Is this kind of a thing that maybe could lead into other avenues for hosting other things down the line? Is that something that you guys hope?"

Kehoe: "Oh, we're definitely bidding on other things. One of the things that really helped us with this...was when we had the NFL Draft in Kansas City. So, sometimes those events lead to other events. Certainly, we're hoping that FIFA will, as well. With the Women's World Cup is coming up, Rugby World Cup is coming up, multiple different events that different parts of the state, including Kansas City, can host. This is a great spot for us to be known for, that we're able to host large world scale events and everybody have a safe and enjoyable time."

Jones: "What's for you the single most important outcome of a whole for this World Cup in Kansas City? Is it just the benefits down the line, or what's the single most important outcome for you?"

Kehoe: "Single most important outcome is definitely that people understand that we are a great community to be in and we are a great state to be in. You can have a safe time and a fun time and really just showcase what Kansas City and the Missouri region is all about to the world. I think this is an opportunity you don't get too often, and we want to make sure we swing and hit it."