Sports are KC’s biggest new export, leaders say; make them synonymous with city’s brand
September 22, 2026 | Nikki Overfelt Chifalu
Neal Sharma, vice president of KC2026’s board of directors, right, speaks during a panel conversation Kansas City's sport identity at the 2026 Back2KC gathering at CPKC Stadium; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
Kansas City’s sports ties should be as obvious and celebrated as Nashville’s musical identity, said Neal Sharma, describing the region’s potential to redefine itself based on recent headline-grabbing wins.
“Honestly, we can’t stop talking about sports because it’s a real export here in Kansas City,” he told a crowd gathered Friday at Back2KC, fresh off his FIFA World Cup run as vice president of KC2026’s board of directors.
The “unmitigated, unequivocal success” of Kansas City’s World Cup spotlight this summer was just the launch pad, Sharma continued, noting that the board measured the city’s hosting success on three goals: to deliver the matches safely and seamlessly in a distinctly Kansas City way; to raise the profile of Kansas City globally; and to leave a lasting legacy that had a sustained impact in our community for generations to come.
“Now our goal for all of us is to really focus on how to get to escape velocity and take Kansas City to its next great era,” explained Sharma, who also serves as executive chairman and co-founder of Kansas City-based STEPS Consulting. “We can build on the back of sports architecture and really start to think about sports media, sports tech, sports health, and youth sports, where we already have a domain expertise. Those are real economies, real exports that Kansas City can be a part of.”
Jonathan Knecht, senior vice president of marketing for the Kansas City Area Development Council, discusses the economic ripple effect of sports on Kansas City, including through corporate recruitment; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
Sharma’s comments came during a Back2KC panel conversation — “Beyond the Game: How Sports is Reshaping Kansas City’s Economy” — which also featured Jonathan Knecht, senior vice president of marketing for the Kansas City Area Development Council; Jeremy McDowell, majority owner of the Kansas City Diamonds and co-founder and president of Top Gun Events; and Mukul Sharma, partner at Palmer Square Real Estate and a member of the KC Current Advisory Board.
The session was moderated by Jessica Powell, founder of Social Balances and director of Back2KC, a years-long initiative launched in 2018 to rekindle connections between former Kansas Citians and the city’s startup ecosystem.
“Sports throughout this region is one of the flags that we can really now proudly fly to attract people into this region,” Knecht noted. “Sport as a synonym with Kansas City is really really important for us moving forward and using that as a force to again attract and create all those opportunities that are happening throughout the region.”
“Broadly, momentum drives momentum,” Mukul Sharma added. “There have been so many catalytic events — the World Cup, the success of the Chiefs, the success of all our sports teams — that have really driven momentum back to Kansas City, and not just our region, but also the downtown core. You see that in corporate attraction.”
Mukul Sharma, partner at Palmer Square Real Estate and a member of the KC Current Advisory Board, speaks during a “Beyond the Game: How Sports is Reshaping Kansas City’s Economy” panel at Back2KC’s 2026 gathering at CPKC Stadium; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
Diamonds from KCK to the river
Those catalytic events that are driving momentum back to Kansas City also include CPKC Stadium — the first purpose-built stadium for a women’s professional sports team and the setting for Back2KC’s 2026 event — the Current Landing development, and the launch of the KC Diamonds, professional softball team based at the Legends in Kansas City, Kansas, Mukul Sharma and McDowell noted.
Jeremy McDowell, majority owner of the Kansas City Diamonds and co-founder and president of Top Gun Events, speaks during a panel on Kansas City’s emerging sports identity, tying in the importance of professional softball to the region; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
“Professional softball is on the up and rise,” McDowell explained. “There’s 12 professional teams across the country. There’s two different leagues right now. I am proud to say in Year 1 — during the World Cup — as one of the smallest cities that has a professional softball team, the Kansas City Diamonds had the largest attendance of any professional team.”
“So we are definitely excited for Year 2,” he continued. “We’re excited about the many opportunities for true partnerships and to build something organic, very similar to what the Current has done. I really believe that professional softball is going to be part of the fabric of Kansas City for decades to come.”
With CPKC Stadium as the anchor, Current Landing — one of the biggest waterfront redevelopment projects in the United States — is working to attract Kansas City back to the riverfront, Mukul Sharma said.
ICYMI: KC adds another big project to the scoreboard, backing Current’s $1.4B riverfront expansion
“This is a $1.5 billion project,” he explained. “We are expanding CPKC Stadium from 11,500 to 18,000 — the same size as an MLS venue — as part of this project. And we are building a new riverfront neighborhood right here in downtown Kansas City. It’s fun because you know what we would expect The Wharf in D.C. to be — how catalytic that was to the riverfront in Washington D.C. — we’re bringing that right here in Kansas City.”
‘I win, you win, the community wins’
During Kansas City’s time on the global stage for the World Cup, Neal Sharma had the opportunity to speak with many business leaders and corporate site selection people about what makes the city so special and different, he said.
Sharma now believes it all comes down to Kansas City being the biggest small town in America. It has all of the assets of other big cities — including six major sports teams, two NASCAR races, best sports architecture industry on the sports side, plus a Federal Reserve and the fourth largest medical school by population.
“We have all these major business ecosystem things that are happening, yet we are who we are,” he continued. “We have our heart.”
And that heart comes down to three things, he explained. First, Kansas City hasn’t normalized zero-sum transactional thinking like the rest of the globe.
“Nothing new can be created with zero-sum thinking,” he noted. “Entrepreneurs can’t make anything new if it is ‘I win and you lose.’ It only works by positive sum thinking. ‘I win, you win, the community wins.’ Win, win, win. That is how you create something and that’s what entrepreneurs do.”
Second, Kansas City believes in paying it forward and making the chair open for somebody else, he continued.
“In all of these other cities I do business with, who you know is very guarded because that’s where the value is,” he said.
Finally, Kansas City is becoming a major global city without losing the habit of knowing each other, Sharma noted.
“The fastest rate of change any of us have ever experienced is right now,” he explained. “And what happens in that environment is that people become far more fragmented. It becomes far more decentralized. It becomes far more sort of separated in your own echo chamber.”
“That is the difference about Kansas City,” Sharma added, “That will be our competitive advantage and that will be why we win.”
Fund More Stories
This story was made possible by readers like you. Join them — make a one-time contribution or become a monthly member to sustain our work.
