The 2023 NFL Draft drew more than 300,000 visitors to Kansas City.Mike Day
Résumé: Annual events include: NASCAR Hollywood Casino 400 (since 2001) and Advent Health 400 (2011); and Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s (2010-27) and Women’s Basketball Championships (2021-27). Other recent events include: 2019 USA Gymnastics Championships; 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers; 2022 and 2027 United Soccer Coaches Convention; 2023 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Regionals; 2023 NFL Draft; and 2023 Sports Events and Tourism Association Symposium.
Recent wins: This week’s NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships Finals; 2024 NAIA Convention; 2024 Copa América; 2024 Coliseum Summit; 2025 Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship Finals; and 2026 FIFA World Cup (six matches, including a quarterfinal).
Venues: KC Current’s CPKC Stadium, the world’s first venue built specifically for women’s professional soccer, opened last weekend. The $125 million AdventHealth Sports Park at Bluhawk, a 420,000-square-foot multisport amateur and youth sports complex, opens this fall. An indoor multisport/ballpark facility that is anchoring the $838 million Homefield mixed-use development is set to open later this year. Additionally, the $36 million, 10-field multipurpose Central Bank Sporting Complex, operated by Sporting KC, opened last year.
Forward progress: The $1.5 billion project to convert the Kansas City International Airport to a single-terminal facility was completed last year. The Kansas City Convention Center recently had a $150 million expansion and technology upgrade, and the adjacent 800-room Loews Kansas City opened in 2020.
Stay and play: Connected to T-Mobile Center is the 41,500-square-foot College Basketball Experience, which features hands-on basketball exhibits and houses the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. — D.B.
