The Spectacle v The Special: The necessity of both for Sporting Kansas City

One was electric, on-the-edge-of-your-seat compelling, and felt by all 72,610 in attendance.

The other was electric, on-the-edge-of-your-seat compelling, and felt by all 19,637 in attendance.

 The Unreal versus The Real. One defies description; the other invites description. One you tell your grandchildren about, again and again; the other you bring your grandchildren to see.

Sporting Kansas City’s last two matches versus Inter Miami CF and St. Louis City SC were a dream for soccer fans and sports fans across America’s Heartland and beyond. Yet, the two matches bring two separate perspectives, both valid, both with value. And one only hopes the Sporting Kansas City brass were paying attention.

Sporting’s Saturday, April 13, match versus Inter Miami CF at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium was spectacle. Miami’s tasty mix of some ready in the cupboard MLS players and some up-and-comers, dramatically and heavenly spiced by stars of a generation in Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, and the broad flavor palette that is Lionel Messi raised the atmosphere to (mostly) controlled insanity. Every fan’s passion was not only on a heightened level, but a new level. That fervor never faded from the pre-game through the 90+ minutes. The mere presence of and the bursts of scintillating play from Messi and company lifted the entire match to the realm of fantasy. The biggest question in the aftermath was, ‘What did I just witness?’  It was that indescribable.

No one left that match unchanged. No one escaped without a clear understanding that the game is bigger than what currently exists in Kansas City and without the knowledge that the growth potential here is limitless.

Then, a week later, April 20^th, it was a rivalry match – Sporting Kansas City v St. Louis City SC. Already, only in its 2^nd season, this is a derby, in every sense of the word. I drove up to a throng of CITY fans starting their raucous walk into the match. In the stadium, I saw St. Louis fans covering two-plus sections and red sprinkled throughout Children’s Mercy Park. I saw fans streamed from one end of the standing room only overlook to the other. I saw The Cauldron standing, packed from edge to edge. And both fervent followers brought it to ears from pre-game to the final whistle.

And the players came to play, undeniably juiced by the idyllic atmospheres: the spectacle and the special.

Spectacles brought by the ambition of Inter Miami raise the level and profile of MLS. Special matches between rivals (or high-level competitors) sustain MLS and provide a unique character. One can argue that identities – the ones that spur true fandom – are not built on stardom. If forced to choose, fans would take two quality teams with distinct cultured identities driven by fans with passionate allegiances to their hometown club. However, both have their place. Both are needed to bring MLS to the upper echelon of soccer leagues across the globe. Both have staying power. But only spectacle provokes lasting wonder and scintillating bemusement. And soccer fans in Kansas City and nearby should not be limited in choices when it comes to the spectacle and the special.

Loyal Sporting Kansas City fans and those from surrounding areas without an MLS team witnessing each match (perhaps attending a Sporting KC match for the first time), showed their passion. Yet, though the matches entertained, there were no victories for Sporting Kansas City and those fans. And those fans are – and have been – angry.

Sporting Kansas City fans are and have been thankful for the Erik Thommys, the Roger Espinozas, the Benny Feilhabers, and US World Cup heroes Graham Zusi and Matt Besler. They have been thankful for the titles along the way, the last in 2017. The quality players and titles have kept them around. But not since Preki – who was great enough for the fledgling days of MLS – have Sporting fans and soccer fans across the Heartland seen a player, let alone a roster, that lifts the fans’ collective fervor, that brings new fans in, that lifts the loyal fanbase and this club, and raises Sporting Kansas City above our (Yes, our) ever-increasing rivals.

There is an analogous meme that asks a reasonable question: Why do women cry when they are angry? The answer is: Because they realize they can’t kill you… and that shit is frustrating.

Sporting Kansas City fans and fans in the nearby regions realize that Sporting Kansas City and the matches it plays are sometimes special, but rarely a spectacle, that Sporting does not have that player who or a roster that moves the needle, that bursts the club into the top tier of MLS. Kansas City has not been that club for too long. Good is good.  But it is not good enough. And that shit is frustrating, for everyone involved.

Indeed, the machinations involved in dealing in a global soccer market, the biggest sports market in the world, are challenging. Surely, efforts have been made. Do more: Add another investor, increase the staff devoted to player acquisition (Sporting is still without a Sporting Director) to take advantage of loosening league rules, whatever it takes to feed the clearly starving soccer fans within reach of Kansas City. A continual argument made is that Kansas City is a small market operating in an increasingly competitive atmosphere. But that argument has become less and less valid – Kansas City is home of the Chiefs, Super Bowl Champions for three times in the last five years and the Kansas City Current, making waves across the globe. This summer, Kansas City will host matches – including the U.S. Men’s National Team – during the long-storied Copa America. And in two short years, six matches, including a quarterfinal, of the 2026 Men’s World Cup will be played in Kansas City.

Sporting Kansas City fans and soccer fans in the Heartland should be able to dream realistic dreams of seeing the spectacle and the special without having to rely on the quality or stardom or the home city of the visiting side. It is time for Sporting Kansas City to consistently provide it themselves.