A wide position of the wrong of GEHA Field astatine Arrowhead Stadium arsenic Lionel Messi of Argentina celebrates scoring his team's first extremity pinch teammates during the FIFA World Cup lucifer betwixt Argentina and Algeria connected June 16, 2026. (Photo by Sebastian Widmann - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
FIFA via Getty Images
The NFL has typically rewarded Super Bowls to cities building caller stadiums — moreover if it’s a smaller, midwestern metropolis for illustration Minneapolis, which hosted the 2018 crippled astatine U.S. Bank Stadium.
But moreover though the Kansas City Chiefs will beryllium playing successful a glitzy, $3 cardinal dome successful 2031, proprietor Clark Hunt acknowledged the difficulty successful landing a Super Bowl because six different teams are besides slated to person caller stadiums by then.
Kansas City’s hosting of the World Cup, though, bolstered the city’s chances.
“Not only did we propulsion it off, we dominated,” Chiefs president Mark Donovan said. “That puts america connected a different level now.”
In summation to being the only Midwest metropolis to big a World Cup lucifer successful 2026, Kansas City is besides the smallest United States metropolis to ever big a World Cup match.
An awesome 413,169 fans attended matches astatine Kansas City Stadium — the renaming of GEHA Field astatine Arrowhead Stadium, which FIFA insisted upon for branding and sponsorship reasons. Whatever 1 wants to telephone the venue, it averaged 68,862 per match.
More than 400,000 attended the FIFA Fan Festival successful downtown Kansas City, Mo., and that show was a bully comparison to the interactive Super Bowl Experience, which each Super Bowl big metropolis puts on.
The time aft Super Bowl Sunday is typically the busiest successful an airport’s history, but much than 1.1 cardinal inbound and outbound passengers went done Kansas City International Airport successful June, representing the astir group since the airport’s caller terminal opened successful 2023.
“Years of readying and collaboration made this infinitesimal possible,” Pam Kramer, CEO of Kansas City’s World Cup committee, said successful a property release. “The measurement this organization came together exceeded each expectation, and I couldn’t beryllium much proud of what we accomplished.”
Kansas City besides hosted 4 nations’ guidelines camps during the World Cup. Algeria was astatine the University of Kansas, Argentina was astatine the Sporting KC Performance Center, England was astatine Swope Soccer Village and the Netherlands was astatine the KC Current Training Center.
As portion of the second country’s celebration, much than 36,000 group filled downtown Kansas City during the Netherlands’ instrumentality walk, creating a oversea of orange.
Four years earlier hosting the World Cup, Kansas City hosted the NFL Draft, and Chiefs executives helped person NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to fto Kansas City person that opportunity by explaining that the metropolis was not going to get a Super Bowl truthful it should astatine slightest get a draft.
But now the calculus has changed.
“The World Cup gave america different opportunity to show really typical this region is,” Donovan said, “and really tin this metropolis and region is to big events.”
The Chiefs person talked to the NFL astir hosting the Super Bowl successful 2033, 2034 and 2035.
They besides said to the NCAA past week astir their desire to big an upcoming Final Four.
“We are aggressively pursuing Final Fours,” Donovan said. “We’re going to beryllium early bidders connected astir things.”
The Super Bowl is the eventual prize.
When the Chiefs past played successful 1 — Super Bowl LIX astatine New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome — it generated $1.25 cardinal for the authorities of Louisiana.
Kansas City still has its activity trim retired because the Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Cleveland Browns, Washington Commanders and Denver Broncos are slated to person caller stadiums by 2031 and apt covet the large crippled arsenic well.
But really adeptly it hosted the World Cup only tin help.
“I’m really proud that we were capable to propulsion that off,” Donovan said, “and what that intends for our future.”
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