Are Kansas City businesses seeing a World Cup boom? What they say
On Monday afternoon, crowds mostly made up of Argentine fans packed shoulder to shoulder in streetcars and scooted down the road to the FIFA Fan Fest.
Cars waving Algerian flags honked as thousands of fans marched up the street. Kids wearing Lionel Messi jerseys wrestled on the lawn.
While the world has stopped for some passionate soccer fans — who’ve likely ditched business meetings to board planes and cheer on their team — servers and cooks plod on at restaurants in the surrounding area.
It’s early — the first Kansas City World Cup game will be played at GEHA Field at Arrowhead on Monday evening — so official numbers have yet to roll in. Initially, the city projected a $653 million economic impact.
So far, some businesses are reporting an uptick. And others say they aren’t.
If you ask some of the restaurants in Crown Center, traffic has been pretty on par with their typical weekdays and weekends. Not dead, but not overly busy, either.
Unforked’s general manager Jessica Peña said there’s been a few rushes at dinner and lunchtime, but nothing out of the ordinary.
“You get your pops, but they’re at regular times,” she said. “I don’t think FIFA is increasing our business in any way differently than the summer would.”
The shopping center as a whole hasn’t been especially crazy thus far. Peña’s prediction is that many fans are going straight to the Fan Fest, which offers a smorgasbord from local businesses. Others are going to bars for watch parties.
“I think everybody is focused over there,” she said. “Really downtown at the bars and stuff.”
Crown Center extended its hours for the World Cup. It’s temporarily open until 8 p.m. instead of 6 p.m.
It’s still the first week of games, Peña added, so it’s too soon to say whether customers will come by for tacos and salads later on.
But manager Viviana Gutierrez at Spin! Pizza, a neighboring restaurant, agreed that business has been consistent, not crazy. She’s seen people taking pictures under the World Cup flags and giant soccer ball outside the mall, then heading to the Fan Fest.
The FIFA fan photo-ops extend to Union Station, where restaurants like Harvey’s and Pierpont’s make their home.
The City of Entrepreneurs marketplace popup, which will sell goods from local businesses, has seen about 11,000 fans from Thursday to Sunday, according to data from the Economic Development Council.
Vendors include Annie Austen, Made Mobb, Ruby Jean’s, Messner Bee Farm, and Pink Dinosaur.
Parisi Coffee, which neighbors the popup, has been fueling fans with espresso prior to their trip to the Fan Fest. Around noon on Monday, fans in Argentina jerseys slumped at tables and sipped coffees.
Barista Taryn Nugen said the past week has felt similar to its holiday busy season, though the Argentina World Cup game Monday has brought a noticeable spike.
“I think today is probably the busiest day we’ve had,” he said.
The Power & Light District doesn’t have exact numbers of just how much more business it’s seen, but its Soccer in the City watch parties have driven crowds already.
Spokeswoman Dana Witt Fulks told The Star via email that traffic looks to be about where the district had anticipated.
Beyond the watch parties, fans are still grabbing food and drink before, during and after.
“What has been great to see is that the World Cup is creating exactly the type of all-day activity we hoped for,” she said in a written statement. “The larger crowds naturally come around marquee matches and events, but the consistent energy throughout the day has been one of the biggest indicators of the impact the tournament truly has on our city.”
The city has seen several other well-attended FIFA events. Sunday evening, Argentine fans filled the streets for a banderazo, or pep rally, which started inside Cafe Corazon and spilled onto Southwest Boulevard.
Brewery Emperial in the Crossroads, on the other hand, has seen fewer customers than it had hoped.
Keith and Julie Thompson told The Star on Monday that many locals are avoiding the area. As for out-of-town fans, they aren’t seeing the volume they hoped.
“We’ve been kind of preparing for this for the last six months to a year,” Keith said. “We have seen some folks from other countries rolling through, but not in the numbers that we anticipated at this time.”
It’s been disappointing, Keith said.
Julie said business has been down about 50%.
Eric Harvey, who owns newly opened sports bar Beckett’s in the Crossroads, reports things have been decently busy. It’s like a typical weekend, but with extended hours, he said. Beckett’s is open until 5 a.m.
Up north, Blue Line also has extended early morning hours, and bartender Jack Yuratovich said the bar has reaped the benefits of its late nights.
“Last Wednesday, whenever we had our first night until 5 a.m., it was the largest Wednesday we’d ever had,” he said. “If I had to guess, roughly 35% to 33% higher than we have on the average day.”
South of the Fan Fest, business has been down about 10% to 15% at Amante Domingo’s concepts: The Russell, Noka and Le Champion. But none have watch parties for the games, and Domingo thinks his regular clientele is avoiding the area.
Plus, he doesn’t own a sports bar.
“I think most people are probably geared up to eat brats and beers and stuff like that,” he said. “It’s not really like, ‘Let’s go to Noka. I’ve packed nice clothes for that.’”
Domingo said many of his restaurant friends have reported a similar experience.
Initially, Domingo had planned to implement automatic gratuity at his restaurants during the World Cup. But when he didn’t see the tourism they expected, he decided against it.
Fan Fest attendance numbers have yet to roll in, but those who choose to chow down there can select from a menu that includes an Arthur Bryant’s BBQ sandwich for $24, Char Bar spicy chicken BBQ on a bun for $23, Jack Stack chopped beef brisket for $18, Taco Naco chicken al pastor tacos for $18, a lobster roll from River House for $34, and Lulu’s chicken pad Thai for $19.
This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 5:01 PM.