World Cup KC

Hotel rooms, buses, and liquor laws are just a few of the problems that Kansas City will need to figure out in the next year, before the first World Cup games kick off at Arrowhead Stadium next June.

Kansas City is exactly one year away from the first FIFA World Cup match at Arrowhead Stadium. KC2026 CEO Pam Kramer joined KCUR's Up To Date for an update on how the nonprofit is working through security and helping businesses prepare.

The wildly popular, sprawling public art installation plans its next display for April 2026, spanning the city's World Cup run. As many as 150 “Heartists” will be selected to turn blank canvas sculptures into expressions of Kansas City’s cultural identity and community pride.

Kansas City Council set the money aside to encourage small businesses, artists, and makers to move into the city's highly visible, but vacant, storefronts before the 2026 World Cup. “When visitors from all over the world visit next year, we need to be open for business,” one member said.

The group planning Kansas City’s matches hopes to build a regional transit network that gets residents and hundreds of thousands of visitors across the metro quickly and easily. They’ll need more money and regional cooperation to do so.

Twelve Kansas City restaurants, breweries and other businesses were chosen this week for grants to expand patio space — including adding furniture and lighting, painting murals and more.

Kansas City will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup next summer, the smallest city in North America to join the festivities. Is the city equipped to handle the huge influx of tourists and their transportation and housing needs?

Kansas City is expecting 650,000 visitors next summer during the 2026 FIFA World Cup — more than the amount of people who live in the city. A leader of the KC2026 coalition says that preparations are already well underway for transportation and hosting both fans and teams.

Mayor Quinton Lucas told KCUR’s Up To Date that he’d like to find alternative ways to pay for the baseball team’s future stadium. “Why should every person in Jackson County pay a sales tax to support something that they may never use?” he asked.

The organization charged with planning for the FIFA World Cup in Kansas City has gone through some recent leadership changes. Pam Kramer, the newly selected CEO of KC2026, said that she's "confident that we'll be prepared."

Kansas City's mayor joined KCUR's Up To Date for a discussion about the future of sports in the metro — including the pressure around keeping the Chiefs and Royals, and chaos in the committee helping to organize the 2026 World Cup. But there's one thing Quinton Lucas isn't worried about: President Biden's ability to run for president.

The influx of soccer fans to Kansas City is expected to hike prices for short-term rentals, possibly pushing up rents and making permanent housing less affordable. But if Kansas City officials use the opportunity to invest in affordable housing, experts see a chance for long-term benefits.