Study that bashed KC as a World Cup host city included flawed data
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas City was ranked 16th of 16 host cities for fan experience.
- The study listed a 136-minute airport-to-stadium trip derived from Google Maps.
- KC2026 CEO Pam Kramer said airport vibe and regional transit will create a distinct.
A study that ranked Kansas City as the worst host city for fan experience at the 2026 World Cup included a piece of data that is clearly faulty.
The study’s author essentially admitted as much.
The Action Network, a sports gambling website that authored the study, ranked the 2026 World Cup host cities by the expected matchday experience. The Action Network looked at accessibility, cost, atmosphere, safety and weather, and hotel access.
There are three findings fans in Kansas City might find noteworthy:
- KC scored a 15 out of 100 for walkability around Arrowhead Stadium. Admittedly, there isn’t a lot to see in the Truman Sports Complex
- Kansas City was dinged for having few hotels or bars near Arrowhead Stadium
- Visitors had an estimated 136-minute airport-to-stadium trip, “the longest listed trip in the study”
That last point seems fishy, right? It certainly doesn’t take 2 hours, 16 minutes to drive from Kansas City International Airport to Arrowhead Stadium.
I asked the study’s author, Gautham Marthandan, how that drive time was determined.
“The 2 hours figure was taken from Google Maps route data,” Marthandan wrote in an email. “For consistency across all host cities, we looked at airport-to-stadium travel at 2 pm on a Saturday, as a standard weekend fan-arrival scenario.
“It is not intended to represent a normal direct car journey from Kansas City International Airport to Arrowhead.”
And yet, it was included in the study that dinged Kansas City as a World Cup host city. Perhaps that drive time was determined earlier this year when I-70 was shutdown or had reduced lanes because bridges were being replaced. But it’s more like 30-minute drive from the airport to Arrowhead.
Vancouver, Toronto, Seattle, Mexico City and Atlanta were ranked as the top five best host cities for fans.
The study offered this conclusion about Kansas City, which it ranked 16th among the 16 host cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico:
“For traveling fans, the game itself is only 90 minutes, but everything around it can define the entire trip. The biggest mistake fans can make is planning around the host city name alone. A stadium two hours from the airport, limited bars nearby or 94-degree heat can quickly change the experience. This index puts the full matchday picture in one place, from travel time and cost to safety, atmosphere and hotel access, so fans know what to expect before they book and can make the most of whichever city they visit.”
KC2026 responds
Pam Kramer, the CEO of the host committee KC2026, said the study’s parameters don’t take into account what’s taking place away from where the games are being played.
“The factors that they used are important, right? You can’t change any of that, but what we can do is make sure that the experience once they get here is second to none, and that is distinctly Kansas City,” Kramer said Tuesday in a news conference. “I don’t know that you could fly into any other airport in any other city and get the same vibe that you get at our airport.
“This is a big deal here, and we are excited that people are here, and it starts at that moment. And then our transportation system, we’re the only city standing up regional transit for the tournament with direct service to the stadium, making sure that that experience is pleasant, it’s seamless, it’s easy to use.”
