Kansas City sold itself to the world over the summer as the little World Cup host city that could, and it invested about $200 million in public funds to do so. More than three months after the FIFA World Cup matches ended, that may be ringing true.
The world’s smallest 2026 host city welcomed an estimated 680,000 visitors between June 11 and July 19, according to VisitKC, the city’s tourism and marketing organization. That exceeded initial projections of 650,000 visitors.
While the city brought more visitors, it also generated less money than originally projected. That decline was largely due to fewer international travel and long-term visitors than expected. Still, leaders say the tournament was a major success that is building Kansas City's brand and helping secure more big events in the long-run.
Mayor Quinton Lucas said he believes the success of the World Cup will help the region court other major events, like the NCAA Men’s Final Four tournament and both the FIFA Women’s World Cup and Men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031.
“This is more money coming to your neighbors,” Lucas said. “This is more money coming into your local government coffers to help pay for all the things that are necessary. Hopefully it is something that helps a lot of other people look to build other events for the future, building out restaurants, building out businesses and building up areas of our city.”
The number of visitors counted by VisitKC represents any person coming from outside the city for each trip. That means if one person comes into the city and stays for multiple days, they would be counted as one visitor. If they left Kansas City and returned during the World Cup on another trip, that one person would be counted as multiple visitors.
That many visitors meant more money for local businesses and industries in the area. World Cup activity generated an estimated $570 million in direct spending in Cass, Clay, Douglas, Jackson, Johnson, Leavenworth, Platte, Miami and Wyandotte counties.
The millions spent in the region is lower than the $650 million VisitKC originally predicted. Still, Kathy Nelson, president and CEO of VisitKC and the Kansas City Sports Commission, said she’s pleased with the amount the metro did bring in.
“For all of us in our careers and in our lifetimes, we probably will never see anything else that would compare to $570 million in economic impact over the course of two months,” Nelson said.
Much of that money came from spending in the food and beverage industry, and part of that could be attributed to the extended hours at certain bars across the metro. Spending was not spread evenly at small businesses across the metro, but those that did see extra visitors got a big benefit from the tournament.
Kansas City-area hotels generated more than $119 million of that direct spending in revenue from rooms between June 14 and July 11. Short-term rental bookings in the area were up 16.5% since last year, with room revenue growing more than 76% year over year. In total, short-term rentals accounted for $15.6 million of the total direct spending.
A previous short-term rental study from AirDNA found that Kansas City saw an increase of revenue from rentals because of an increase in prices, not demand.
Nelson said part of the reason spending fell short of projections was because international visitor numbers were not as high as expected.
International travelers were hampered with the threat of $15,000 entry bonds or fear of detainment by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. International visitors were led by people from Argentina, the Netherlands, Ecuador and Mexico. Nelson said travel from Canada was down more than expected.
When visitors did come from other countries, Nelson said their length of stay was lower than original guidelines from FIFA. The organization told host cities to expect international visitors to stay around 10 nights, but Nelson said the average international guest only stayed about 2-3 nights. Visitors to Kansas City and Lawrence’s four base camps also did not bring as many long-term guests as originally thought.
The World Cup also brought new services for residents. Small businesses got support from the city’s new Open Doors! program, while parks and other public facilities were improved.
KC20206, the city’s planning committee, added additional transit alongside increased service from the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority. Johnson County, Kansas, also added a direct line to the airport. Lucas said he hopes to make some of those improvements permanent.
“The question for us isn't whether it was a success; it was,” Lucas said. “The question isn't whether we can figure out how to get people to places. The question for us, long term, is how do we have the revenues to sustain it? I think that's going to be the work that we all do in government positions, long term.”
