An inside look at Lawrence’s bid to be a base camp for the 2026 FIFA World Cup

As Kansas City prepares to play host to World Cup matches in 2026, the city of Lawrence and University of Kansas are growing equally excited.

Lawrence could be a base-camp location for an international team. A base camp is a team’s home site for the competition, which includes a training ground and place to stay.

The timeframe for the team’s stay would depend on how far it advances in the tournament, but the range could be anywhere from 20-36 days.

If chosen, the University of Kansas facilities and Rock Chalk Park would be used as a base by one of the 48 participating teams.

The Star has learned that discussions between KU Athletics officials and FIFA started in May, with Alan Dietrich of Sporting KC serving as a liaison between the two sides.

Jason Booker, KU’s deputy athletics director for external affairs and revenue generation, told The Star that FIFA previously had Zoom sessions with KU about base-camp opportunities.

Booker, also a Kansas City Sports Commission and Foundation chairman, explained how Lawrence would be chosen as a base camp.

“Once you go through checking all the boxes of what Lawrence can bring and Rock Chalk Park can bring to the table, you basically get submitted into what they call a brochure,” Booker said. “All of the countries who are participating in the World Cup go through and select their training site.”

Booker continued: “Now, a lot of what we’ve been doing is getting FIFA information on hotels, Lawrence and Rock Chalk Park. What are the things they have baseline requirements that we have to have, from equipment to lighting to all of those things?”

The Kansas City area, as a whole, could be desirable as a base-camp location. It’s centrally located, allowing teams and fans easier travel to its games that will take place at 16 sites in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Also, facilities like the Compass Minerals National Performance Center, the Kansas City Current’s practice facility and KU/Rock Chalk Park are soccer-ready.

A FIFA official visited Rock Chalk Park in late September to check the soil samples and ensure they met FIFA requirements. The official came away impressed.

“He came over and looked at us and was like, ‘I can’t believe I am going to say this, but this would match up with any English Premier League pitch that I’ve seen,’” Booker said.

FIFA sent officials on multiple visits to Lawrence, dating back to an initial visit when Kansas City became a host city in 2022.

Back then, FIFA looked at things like what hotels Lawrence has and what KU and the city can offer.

Currently, Lawrence and Rock Chalk Park are near the stage of minimum requirements to be a base-camp site, Booker said.

KU Athletics officials met with FIFA last week, who sent back a litany of questions they wanted answered.

“What would we provide for media? Booker said. “When we have open practices for fans, how are we going to operate around that with fan-fest activities?”

Why is FIFA so interested in Rock Chalk Park?

“I’ve got a 72-page document that basically outlines all of the requirements and details what we have to be able to provide,” Booker said. “The great news is that 98% of them Rock Chalk Park already has.

“But I think probably the big takeaway here is that we probably didn’t know we had a chance to do something like this, but we were able to do that and now it’s put us in a position to have (a big) opportunity.”

Ultimately, Lawrence becoming a base camp is an opportunity to introduce itself to the rest of the world and make a lasting impact on the local community.

Booker called it exciting to showcase KU, Rock Chalk Park, Lawrence and the local community with “everything we have to offer here.”

“How it’s going to impact businesses, restaurants maybe at a time that’s a little bit slower here in the summer,” Booker continued. “We think we’re going to have a base camp of fans that are following them here and watching at Rock Chalk Park and participating in Lawrence. It’s going to be great.”

Booker added: “From a university perspective, it’s a great opportunity to showcase the resources we have here and ways that we can support international events like this with our international student population, and then resources that we have here that are maybe pretty unique. On a world stage, showcase and host media members from wherever the host country is, right?

“They are probably writing stories about their lifestyle and time here. I think those things are really invaluable. It’s hard to put a price tag on what that can mean to put our community in a great light.”

The Star’s Blair Kerkhoff contributed to this report