Kansas City 2026, the nonprofit fulfilling hosting requirements for the FIFA World Cup in the region, updated the Kansas Joint Committee on Kansas Security about the security considerations for the upcoming contests.
The contest is expected to bring 650,000 visitors nationally over the course of the tournament, with a combined 2.1 million visitor days in the country. It’s the first World Cup that will be hosted in multiple countries, with locations in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Kansas City is one of 11 cities hosting matches and is expected to host six matches in June and July 2026, including one quarterfinal match. Kansas City is the smallest host city this World Cup.
“The teams that qualify for a quarterfinal bring big fan bases with them, so that is incredibly important from a tourism standpoint,” said Pam Kramer, chief executive officer of KC 2026.
Which teams come to KC is important
In late 2025, FIFA will announce where teams will play group stage matches.
“That’s a really important moment for us particularly from a safety and security standpoint, because then we’ll know what teams are coming here, what fans are coming here, what fan behavior from those countries looks like and how to prepare for it,” Kramer said.
Soccer fans can be a particularly rowdy bunch, with potentially disruptive behavior on gameday. In July, fans of Argentina and Colombia national teams stormed the gates and clashed with police at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami before the final for the Copa America, the top men’s soccer tournament for South American national teams.
But the continental sporting event is small in scale to the FIFA World Cup.
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Just how big is the World Cup?
The World Cup is the most popular sporting contest in the world, attracting more than double the viewership of the Olympics and 17 times the viewership of the Super Bowl. The last time the United States hosted it in 1994 it broke the record for ticket sales, with 3.5 millions tickets sold across nine venues and 52 matches.
Kramer said this event will dwarf that with more teams, days and matches than past tournaments. There will be the following:
- 48 teams, up from 32 in 2022.
- 104 matches, up from 64 in 2022.
- 39 days of competition, up from 28 in 2022.
Where will it take place in KC?
Games will take place at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, but teams and fans will fan out regionally. Kansas City was only selected as a host city after it demonstrated that there are 55,000 available hotel beds within a two-and-a-half-hour drive of the stadium.
Cities like Topeka, and even as far away as Wichita, are included in the inventory of hotels where visitors may stay.
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Several teams will also use regional practice facilities as their base camps. The three in the Kansas City region belong to Sporting Kansas City, the K.C. Current and the University of Kansas. More may be made available if they apply through FIFA.
There’s also an anticipated 25,000 capacity FIFA Fan Festival at the World War I Museum and Memorial.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas lawmakers briefed on security considerations ahead of 2026 FIFA World Cup
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