Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly requests $10 million to help prepare KC area for World Cup
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Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has requested $10 million from the state general fund to prepare the Kansas City metropolitan area for thousands of visitors expected to travel to the region for the 2026 World Cup.
The funds would be used to improve the Sporting KC facility in Kansas City, Kansas, and its surrounding areas, and includes the construction of an entertainment facility outside of the stadium with hopes the improvements will increase economic activity in the region even after the World Cup is done.
The requested funding was part of a larger supplemental budget request, which included an increase of $72.4 million annually from the state general fund to boost special education funding for K-12 schools. Kelly’s supplemental budget request also included an increase in funding for one-time tax rebates for Kansans filing a timely tax return in 2022 and $9.6 million for domestic violence and sexual assault programs.
In 2022, 1.4 million tourists visited Qatar to attend the World Cup, with more than 530,000 tourists attending entertainment events outside of the matches. Attendance in Qatar may have been negatively affected by human rights controversies within the host country. The matches were also held in the winter to avoid the region’s intense heat in the summer months.
In 2018, more than half of the world’s population tuned in to watch the World Cup matches. The number of foreign tourists visiting Russian host cities for 2018’s World Cup saw 3 million tourists visiting Russia, according to the head of Russian Federal Tourism Agency Oleg Safonov.
The economic impact for the Kansas City metropolitan area is estimated to be large, with a possible $620 million increase in incremental economic activity for individual host cities.
The games will be played at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Missouri, but teams could practice at Compass Minerals National Performance Center, where Sporting KC practices, or at Children’s Mercy Park.
