MO Congressman Alford urges Trump to keep World Cup games in KC

President Trump has threatened to pull World Cup games out of Democratically-run U.S. cities with crime problems. West-central Missouri Congressman Mark Alford tells Missourinet he is urging Trump to keep World Cup games in Kansas City.

“It’s going to mean $695 million in economic impact for hosting World Cup matches,” says Alford. “And so, we don’t want to see the region hurt. We don’t want to see Missouri hurt. This is important, I think to our reputation as a state right in the middle of America. If we don’t have this in Kansas City, there is not going to be representation in the Midwest for a World Cup host city.

“I think he’s looking at some of these cities to possibly tell Andrew Giuliani, who’s really over the FIFA World Cup in America, ‘If you can’t guarantee safety for people with millions of people pouring in from all over the world in these cities, you shouldn’t be having the World Cup.’”

Alford acknowledges Kansas City’s crime issues but pointed to the state and city consistently meeting the U.S. and FIFA safety benchmarks.

Missouri and Kansas City have invested millions of dollars already to prepare security and tourism efforts for the games.