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Putting on a World Cup is like throwing a house party, just on a larger scale.
You spend so much time cleaning the place, decorating, stocking up on beers, and, if you're me, cooking hundreds of dumplings and multiple noodle dishes from scratch. You worry about running out of drinks or food, but you also worry about being saddled with too many leftovers.
Will anybody show? Will too many people come? Will everyone have a good time? Will different friend groups stick to themselves or meet new people? Will someone get too drunk and totally ruin the vibe?
Kansas City is rushing to get its house in order for its World Cup games, and you can see the progress around town. Bike lanes and new sidewalks on Southwest Boulevard. A pedestrian mall in the 18th and Vine district. The streetcar extension down to the riverfront. Filling empty storefronts with artists and small businesses. Transforming the lawn of the National WWI Museum and Memorial into a whole music festival. We just need to spray a little Febreze over Brush Creek, and we'll be ready for business.
Not every change is being welcomed with open arms, such as the new Jackson County detention center and the in-progress Kansas City jail. An extensive temporary transit system has drawn criticism for underlining how little Kansas City invests in its ordinary transportation options.
The scale is massive. Not everything will be crystal-clean. But in two weeks, the crowds will arrive, come hell or high water.
KC2026, the local organizing committee, said in a press conference Tuesday that people from 125 different countries have registered to attend the FIFA Fan Festival.
"I'm guessing many of those registrants have never heard of Kansas City before, and now they know where Kansas City is because of the FIFA World Cup and they will experience what Kansas City is because of Fan Festival," said KC2026 CEO Pam Kramer.
"That's the goal of all of this: not only that short-term visitor impact but the way that we change the way the world thinks about Kansas City, and how we tell our story."
That's the real reason our city, its surrounding suburbs, two states, and a whole lot of corporate sponsors and local organizations put so much money and time into this five-week hullabaloo.
Lamar Hunt, the original owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, believed the metro deserved to stand with the giants on the global stage — in fact, he started pitching Kansas City as a World Cup host way back in 1988.
In the latest episode of KCUR's podcast A People's History of Kansas City, you can hear the inside story about how our city won this hosting gig, and how we're trying to meet the moment. It's the final episode of a special miniseries about Kansas City's soccer journey, which host Suzanne Hogan has been reporting for the last year.
Kansas City didn't make the cut back in the 1994 World Cup, the last time the U.S. hosted the tournament. But we're a vastly different city now. And just as important, "Kansas City" is a much cooler party than it used to be.
Kansas City bars won't be round-the-clock for World Cup drinking
In a sort of boozy border arms race, Missouri and Kansas offered a tempting offer to the Kansas City metro for this tournament: Bars would be allowed to serve alcohol 23 hours a day. But only if their cities opted in.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas initially said, essentially, "thanks but no thanks." While the mayor wanted to opt out of extended hours entirely, Kansas City Council instead struck a compromise. All bars can stay open until 3 a.m. if they want, while locations in entertainment districts can keep the party going until 5 a.m. as long as they submit a security plan.
Those specific districts are the Plaza, Westport, downtown, midtown, River Market, the Crossroads, and 18th and Vine. KCUR's Kowthar Shire has the details.
And Kansas City wasn't the only local government to have some concerns about round-the-clock drinking. (The city's local games start between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., and soccer matches only take about two hours — how late do you even need to stay up?) In Johnson County, only two cities voted to approve the liquor sale extensions: Olathe and Merriam.
"We're not a top bar-hopping location," said Gardner City Council President Mark Baldwin at a meeting earlier this month. "This is five extra weeks of people doing who knows what in the wee hours, drunk."
Even in Olathe, a lot of bars won't bother extending their hours due to staffing or lack of patron interest. Read more from Kate Mays a the Johnson County Post.
KC's pickup soccer scene is ready for World Cup walk-ons
On the backside of a low-slung business complex between Interstate 35 and West Pennway Street in Kansas City, Missouri, a stream of men carrying cleats, towels and gym bags files through a set of double doors.
Inside are two turf soccer fields, 30 yards long. On each are pickup games between teams made up of professors, entrepreneurs and college students. And local players hope that the World Cup will bring more people to their meetups looking for a match.
"I mean, it's definitely going to be a good challenge," says player Justin Wright, brimming with confidence. "People here, they know how to play. They play hard and aggressively, so it's really good competition here."
KCUR's Brandon Azim takes a look at the local soccer scene ahead of the tournament.
Kansas City's transit is getting worse after the World Cup
FIFA requires, but doesn't help pay for, World Cup host cities to provide public transportation to visitors. In a sprawling metro like Kansas City that's a big challenge: After decades of underfunding, our area transportation system already struggles to provide timely and reliable service to residents.
@kcur893 Kansas City, the smallest of World Cup host cities, had a lot to do before it welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors for the tournament. So it’s built a second, temporary transit system to get all those visitors and residents around town. The main problem is: Those shuttles are not sticking around. “Connect KC 26” adds more than 200 new buses to the city’s transit network. They will carry visitors to 15 different locations where no direct bus service currently exists — plus the airport, stadium, and FIFA Fan Festival. But after the World Cup ends in July, those new buses will disappear — along with a quarter of the city’s existing bus routes, thanks to chronic underfunding of the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority. KCUR’s Savannah Hawley-Bates reports on why local advocates and officials hope the World Cup can help increase support for transportation funding. And you can find all of our World Cup coverage at kcur.org/worldcup 🎙️Hosted by Savannah Hawley-Bates 📹Produced and filmed by Zach Perez 🖥️Edited by Gabe Rosenberg #kansascity #worldcup #publictransportation ♬ original sound - KCUR - Kansas City
So KC2026 built a second transit system, ConnectKC2026, just to handle the crowds. (The org would not disclose the total price tag, but a representative for the planning committee said costs will be in the millions.)
But, as KCUR's Savannah Hawley-Bates reports, once the tournament leaves, so will this expanded transit. (If you follow KCUR on TikTok, you might have seen Savannah's great video on this topic.)
Not only that, our bus system is set to shrink even further after the summer. The Kansas City City Area Transportation Authority is cutting one-fourth of its weekday routes and two of its weekend routes this fall, while changing hours on many other lines.
Transit advocates and everyday bus riders worry these reductions will hasten the city's transit death spiral, unless the KCATA can secure a steady source of regional funding.
"Prioritizing World Cup transportation over funding frequent, reliable everyday transit, it signals to me that they don't care about everyday working Kansas Citians who rely on bus service," Kansas City resident Dayne Moth wrote in a March zine from Sunrise Movement KC.
"They aren't treating transit as a necessity. It's a disgrace."
KCUR will continue to cover this issue, so stay tuned.
Teaching Kansas City students about global cultures
Nancy Smith, a first grade teacher at Heatherstone Elementary in Olathe, created a whole curriculum around the World Cup to finish out the last two weeks of school. Her class focused especially on the eight countries with ties to Kansas City this summer.
"They play from all over the world. We get to watch it on TV. People dress up crazy at these games. They love their teams," Smith said while reading a World Cup book to students. "You will see people that will dress in the colors that they're wearing, kind of like what we do for the Super Bowl."
Student Sophia Lewis had a head start even before Smith's lessons began. At 7 years old, she's already played soccer for more than half her life.
"It's the biggest soccer thing in the whole world," she said of the tournament. KCUR's Jodi Fortino got in on some of the lessons.
Kickin' the ball around Kansas City
Just about two weeks out from the World Cup, news is now moving so fast that it's hard to keep up! We'll be hitting you with more rapid-fire news hits from Kansas City and across North America, where we can see how we stack up against other host cities.
- Go Algeria: Leading up to the tournament, KCUR is publishing guides on each of the four countries based in Kansas City, and how to celebrate their culture and food around town. Learn more about Les Fennecs (the Desert Foxes), who will be staying in Lawrence. (KCUR's Adventure!)
- Loving landmark: A 2,000-tree forest in the shape of a heart near Kansas City International Airport is being restored ahead of the World Cup. (KCUR's Up To Date)
- Kick it in KCK: In case you needed even closer options for the tournament, Wyandotte County is hosting nine free Spanish- and English-language game watch parties. Plus, it's throwing a street festival with food trucks, live performances and cultural showcases. (KCUR)
- Messi'ing around: Some of Team Argentina is already expected to arrive in Kansas City this week to start training. But star Lionel Messi may need the extra time to recover from a possible leg injury. (The Kansas City Star)
- Museum land: Check out these six soccer-themed exhibitions around the Kansas City metro, showcasing our local artists and history. (KCUR's Adventure!)
- Orange Army: Netherlands fans will parade through Kansas City on June 25, before their match against Tunisia. The route will take Dutch soccer supporters from Power & Light to the FIFA Fan Festival. (KCTV)
- Friday night music club: Kansas City's FIFA Fan Festival just booked Missouri local Sheryl Crow as a last-minute headliner on July 10. Don't forget to book your free tickets! (KCUR)
- Traffic alert: On Kansas City match days, road closures and restrictions will change traffic patterns around Truman Sports Complex. Make sure you know the situation before you try to get a friend to drop you off for a game. (The Kansas City Star)
Kickin' the ball around the continent
- Don't mess with the Zohran: New York City opened a lottery of 1,000 World Cup tickets reserved for residents that will be just $50 each — a steep discount from FIFA's average of $2,800 a pop. Demand was so high, it maxed out the lottery's daily limit within three minutes. Mayor Lucas, Kansas City is still waiting. (Gothamist)
- Whale watch: The World Cup organizing committee in Dallas got hit with a cease-and-desist letter after painting over an eight-story-tall mural celebrating ocean life and conservation. (KERA)
- Axolotlisation: Some Mexico City residents are upset about an effort to beautify the city by painting axolotls — a native salamander and a sort of local mascot for the World Cup — everywhere, calling it a waste of resources. But as someone who just got back from a trip to Mexico City… I have to say, the axolotls are really cute. (The Guardian)
- Tijuana twist: Iran's national team moved its base camp to Mexico, instead of Arizona, after security concerns from the Trump administration's war in Iran. (AP)
- Bond back-off: The Trump administration suspended a controversial rule that foreign visitors from World Cup countries pay as much as $15,000 in bonds to enter the country. Fans of Algeria and Tunisia, which both play in Kansas City, would have been affected. (AP)
- Team USA: The full 26-man squad for the U.S. men's national team is now set, with a mixture of veterans and newcomers. (NPR)
- Team … Canada? Sporting Kansas City midfielder Zorhan Bassong will report to a training camp for the Canadian men's national team, while that country prepares to announce its own World Cup squad. (Sporting KC)
- All about that base: 39 of the 48 World Cup teams will make their base camps in the U.S. this summer. And four of those are in Kansas City. Here's a complete list of who's staying where. (NPR)
Temperature check
Good news for people who love reading long emails: Starting next week, you'll get double the amount of Soccer City '26 — this newsletter is going weekly through the end of the World Cup tournament.
If you haven't signed up yet, go ahead and hit subscribe to stay in the loop as we dive head-first into Kansas City's tournament. Even better news: This, and the rest of KCUR's World Cup coverage, will remain totally free to read. No paywalls, ever.
And if you have questions we haven't answered yet, or there's a cool thing happening in town for the World Cup that we should know about, send me an email: gabe@kcur.org
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