The world is ours: How Kansas City landed games as host for 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer
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Kansas City will host games in 2026 World Cup
Kansas City made an aggressive bid to be one of the U.S. host cities for the enormous international event put on by FIFA. Arrowhead will host the games, and it will be a massive economic boost.
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The world is coming to Kansas City.
The list of United States cities that will play host to FIFA Men’s World Cup games in 2026 includes Kansas City, the world’s soccer governing body announced on Thursday.
The announcement was made in a fashion that college basketball fans would love. The field was presented in regions on FS1, West, Central and East. The first city revealed in the Central region was Kansas City, touching off a celebration at Power & Light District and excitement from city officials, sports figures and politicians, some of whom worked for years to bring this event to the heartland.
Each winning bid city came with a celebrity announcement. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes delivered Kansas City’s.
“The city is going show out in 2026,” Mahomes said. “We can’t wait to welcome fans from across the globe to the heart of America and the world’s loudest stadium.”
Kansas City is one of the 11 U.S. cities awarded games for the global event that will be co-hosted with Mexico and Canada. The others: Seattle, San Francisco (Bay Area), Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, New York/New Jersey.
Bidding U.S. cities that did not receive games are Denver, Nashville, Cincinnati, Orlando and the combined bid from Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Canadian city Edmonton also wasn’t included.
By market size, Kansas City was a long-shot for selection. Only one U.S. candidate has a smaller metropolitan-area population. Among the North American cities to win bids, Kansas City is the smallest.
But the city’s soccer history, culture and central location in terms of geography played favorably with FIFA’s selection officials, who spoke to these qualities when they arrived in KC for a site visit last October.
To win the bid, cooperation was required between officials in Missouri and Kansas, Sporting Kansas City, the Chiefs and other organizations.
Thursday was the payoff.
“It’s a testament to the depth of the soccer culture in Kansas City,” said Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt. “Sporting Kansas City was a founding franchise in Major League Soccer and has been responsible for establishing Kansas City as one of the best soccer cities in the United States.”
Clark’s father, Lamar Hunt, founded the Chiefs and helped develop soccer across the U.S. and here in Kansas City. He was the principal founder of the MLS and the Kansas City Wiz, which became Sporting KC over a decade ago.
According to Clark Hunt, his father’s interest in the sport was sparked by a visit to the 1966 World Cup in England.
“He was captivated by the passion of the fans and the international flavor of the competition, and he decided right then and there that he wanted to bring soccer to America,” Hunt said. “He would be absolutely thrilled with today’s announcement.”
Soccer’s world championship, staged every four years, is a worldwide phenomenon, regularly drawing the largest viewing audience of any sports event. In 2018, some 3.5 billion watched at least part of the month-long competition.
Host cities’ population can grow by tens of thousands of fans during the event. Fans follow their teams to the host country and cities, and fan festivals are typically part of the attraction. Kansas City has offered the National World War I Museum and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art for those spaces.
And KC’s association with the 2026 World Cup might not end with games and fan fests. Kansas City also could become a base camp for one or more national teams. The Compass Minerals National Performance Center is the training facility for Sporting KC and the U.S. Soccer Federation. Teams and fans could make Kansas City a base without playing here.
With a field of 48 nations and 80 games, the 2026 World Cup will be the largest in the event’s history. It’s uncertain how many games will be played in Kansas City or any other site.
U.S. Soccer cited a study by the Boston Consulting Group that reported the 2026 event could generate $5 billion in short-term economic activity, and that host cities could gain $160 million to $620 million apiece in the process.
One financial concession Kansas City made to host games was a tax exemption for World Cup tickets. Rep. Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, handled the bill and Sen. John Rizzo, an Independence Democrat, sponsored the legislation.
“Today is a great day for Kansas City and a great day for Missouri,” Patterson said. “We’re going to be on the world stage and we’re going to shine. People from all over the world will come to Kansas City, stay here, eat in the restaurants, travel here, and there will be tax revenue from that.”
Kansas City has been site of four World Series, the last four AFC Championship Games, 11 men’s and women’s Final Fours and other major sporting events. It has also played host to three national political conventions.
But in terms of international interest, nothing will top the World Cup.
Games will be played at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, which will require some adjustments for soccer matches of this magnitude. Seats will be removed from the corners of the lower level of the stadium, and space will also be made for hospitality functions and the seating of scores of international reporters and other media.
The 2022 World Cup will be played in November and December in Qatar. The World Cup is typically played in June/July, but this year’s edition was moved to fall/winter in order to avoid the oppressive summertime heat in that Middle Eastern nation.
This story was originally published June 16, 2022 at 4:32 PM.
