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Kate Heitmann
Kansas City is one of 17 cities bidding for 10 host U.S. cities’ spots to host 3-4 2026 FIFA World Cup matches.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be held in Canada, the United States and Mexico, making it the first world cup to be hosted by three countries. 48 teams will compete in 80 matches — the highest number of teams to ever compete in the World Cup.
“The opportunity for Kansas City to be able to host the biggest sporting event in the world is just incredible,” KC2026 executive bid director Katherine Fox said. “We’re a sports town. We’re a huge soccer town. We’re a big football town. When we were contemplating throwing our hat in the ring for this event, we needed to kind of decide if we, as a community, could support the execution of the event, and the answer was yes.”
Currently, KC2026 is communicating with FIFA and revising their proposal to send off to the soccer association by the end of February after being asked to adjust a few details. FIFA will announce the final cities by the end of June at the latest, taking into account the existing stadiums, facilities and enthusiasm for soccer that Kansas City shows.
Kansas City plans to hold the soccer matches at Arrowhead Stadium. According to Fox, utilizing an existing stadium is beneficial to the city as the investment costs would be less, leading to a higher economic impact. Additionally, the training facilities of Kansas City sports teams, such as the Kansas City Current, will be utilized for teams competing in the matches.
If Kansas City were to be selected, KC2026 would host “Fan Fest,” a large event that takes place throughout the World Cup in each host city featuring food trucks, vendors, family activities and screens to watch the games on. It will be hosted on either the Liberty Memorial Lawn or at the Nelson-Atkins Donald J. Hall Sculpture park lawn.
“If you weren’t going out to Arrowhead to watch a game, you could go to Fan Fest and watch the game there with all your 10’s of 1000’s of friends,” Fox said. “Or if there wasn’t a game in Kansas City at the time, you would go to Fan Fest and watch the game being played in another market somewhere else. It’s a big party.”
In October 2021, a delegation of 25 FIFA officials visited Kansas City for one day, where they attended meetings with board members and had lunch in the Power and Light district, before splitting off into small groups to tour the city. The different groups looked at the proposed Fan Fest sites, Arrowhead Stadium, training facilities and more, ending the day watching a Kansas City Current soccer game at Children’s Mercy Park.
“With an international sports property, it’s probably safe to assume that they’ve spent some time in New York City or Los Angeles or even Dallas or San Francisco because those are traditionally perceived to be more international cities than Kansas City,” Fox said. “They didn’t really know what to expect. It was critically important that we execute a really great site visit for them. All of us who live here know how great it is and how it’s such a hidden gem that anybody who visits, loves it. We needed to harness that energy and showcase that for FIFA, which I think we did really well.”
Nashville, another bidding city, has estimated that if they were to host the World Cup, then the city would see a $695 million dollar benefit to the economy, regarding visitor spending, operations and revamping infrastructure. Operations would involve creating new jobs for workers in the stadiums and infrastructure could involve economic savings made by improving existing infrastructure. KC2026 is estimating Kansas City would feel a similar effect based on these estimates.
“From hotels, to restaurants, to retail, every category of business will benefit in a significant way from the World Cup,” East parent and KC2026 executive board member Chris Long said.
In addition to the economic advantages, hosting World Cup matches in Kansas City could boost the city’s soccer program participation — an effect that occured 20 years ago when the United States hosted the 1994 World Cup, according to East soccer coach James Kelly.
“When the World Cup was here back in ‘94, soccer took off,” Kelly said. “It really kind of started to where we are now.”
According to the MLS Players Union and the National Federation of State High School Associations, MLS games have seen an increase of 16% in attendance per game since their establishment in 1996, just two years after the United States hosted the World Cup. Since 2003, high school soccer participation has increased over 31%.
In addition to this, the matches could have a meaningful impact on the East community. Kelly remembers watching the 1994 World Cup and is considering gathering the boys and girls soccer team to have a team watch party for the tournament.
“As a poor high school kid, I couldn’t really go to any of the games,” Kelly said. “Now that I’ve got a job, I’ll definitely be going to one of the games.”
For Long and Fox, being able to bring the excitement of the “largest single sporting event in the world” is immense.
“I would be so happy to be able to watch these incredible athletes play at such an elite level and do so right in our backyard, here in Kansas City,” Long said.
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