Fans who planned to spend Thursday at Kansas City's FIFA Fan Festival were disappointed late in the afternoon when local officials decided to close the event for the rest of the day due to inclement weather.
But despite the gloomy forecast, the Netherlands-Tunisia match kicked off as scheduled at 6 p.m. Thursday at Arrowhead Stadium, with the Dutch national team beating Tunisia 3-1.
Rain fell for nearly the entirety of the match. Forecasts for Thursday called for heavy rain, flash flooding and thunderstorms.
Shortly before 4 p.m., fans already at the stadium were being asked to take shelter due to inclement weather, but that directive was later lifted.
Melissa Kreller is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. She said storms were expected in the Kansas City metro later in the day, and Kansas City is under a flash flood warning until 7 a.m. Friday.
“We're looking at precipitation chances with these storms anywhere from 2 to 3 inches total,” Kreller said. “But there should be some localized heavy rainfall. We could see anywhere around 5 inches with these stronger storms.”
Kreller said the most severe storms were projected to be farther south, in areas like Harrisonville, Butler and Clinton, but "there is a potential you might see some stronger to severe thunderstorms across and along that I-70 corridor, including the Kansas City metro area."
World Cup matches are paused or delayed if there is lightning in an 8-mile radius of the stadium. The game can only restart if it’s been 30 minutes since the last lightning strike. According to Reuters, the France-Iraq match in Philadelphia on Monday had an almost two-hour delay because of thunderstorms and lightning.
The weather closed the FIFA Fan Festival, on the grounds of the National WWI Museum and Memorial, for most of Thursday.
Due to today’s ongoing adverse weather, FIFA Fan Festival™ Kansas City will not reopen today. The safety of the public, staff, volunteers and entertainers remains our top priority. ConnectKC26 bus service will continue to operate unless weather conditions make it unsafe to… pic.twitter.com/D733ue0Qng
— FIFA World Cup 26 Kansas City (@FWC26KansasCity) June 25, 2026
"The safety of the public, staff, volunteers and entertainers remains our top priority," KC2026 officials said on social media. "ConnectKC26 bus service will continue to operate unless weather conditions make it unsafe to operate."
Fans disappointed by Fan Fest closure
Natasha Hull was planning to watch the game at Fan Fest with her mom and a family friend from the Netherlands. She said they drove from Edgerton, Kansas, about an hour from the metro.
Hull said she didn’t think it was necessary to shut the festival down.
“But maybe it was because they didn't want to risk that many people in one place if the weather got worse,” she said. “I think it's silly, but I'm not in charge.”
Lawrence, Kansas, resident Chihiro Kai was trying Thursday afternoon to catch a streetcar near Union Station to leave Fan Fest. She said she was excited to check it out, but she understood why it closed.
“I do really appreciate that they're taking safety seriously, considering we also have a lot of people from other countries here, and the idea of probably getting them hurt is a big logistical risk they don't want to take,” she said.
Kai said she’d come back another day.
Amra Sahibzada, 6, was in town from North Carolina visiting her cousins. She said she was mad when she found out Fan Fest was closed.
“I wanted to watch the FIFA fest but it was closed by the weather,” she said.
Amra’s cousin, 10-year-old Jarrar Sahibzada, said they drove from Lenexa, Kansas, to the festival. He said he was initially happy to be there.
“But when we, when my cousin found out that it’s canceled, I'm feeling depressed,” he said. “I wanted to go see the merch store.”
Jarrar said his updated plans for Thursday night were to go back home and play a soccer video game.
The Netherlands’ Oranje Fanwalk in Kansas City started earlier than originally scheduled Thursday morning to beat the rain.
