Host city organizers drop game plans for KC entrepreneurs navigating World Cup
Argentina, the Netherlands, and other teams playing in Kansas City during the 2026 FIFA World Cup games are bringing their own playbooks to the City of Fountains next spring. Local organizers want the region’s small businesses and organizations to be just as prepared — before visitors arrive.
KC2026 — the host city organizer for World Cup activities in Kansas City — on Friday released its KC Game Plan Playbook, which empowers business owners with insights, tools, and connections to make informed decisions and take smart action. The drop also included a Community Activation Playbook guide to understanding the World Cup scope, what it means for the region, and how to take part in creating a safe, welcoming, and distinct Kansas City experience.
Spanish language versions are expected to be available early next week.
Click here to check out the KC Game Plan Play Book and here for the Community Activation Playbook.
“With the KC Game Plan Playbook, our intent from the beginning was always to provide as much information as we could to small businesses to help them inform a strategy that works for them,” said Tracy Whelpley, director of regional impact for KC2026. “We want to provide all of the information and data tools that would help them identify and pursue opportunities.”
The organization on Friday also opened up food and beverage vendor applications for the FIFA Fan Festival at the National WWI Museum and Memorial. The deadline to apply is Feb. 11.
“This is going to be for businesses that have experience with large events,” Whelpley noted, “knowing that we may have as many as 65,000 attendees a day at the FIFA Fan Festival.”
A rendering of the FIFA Fan Festival’s KC Heart Gateway, a 65-foot-tall heart-shaped entrance to the National WWI Museum and Memorial’s south lawn; image courtesy of Populous
The initiatives are a key part of KC2026’s strategy to equip business and civic communities with tools to prepare for the more than 650,000 visitors expected during Kansas City’s FIFA World Cup matches and the expected $653 million in regional economic impact, the organization said.
Tracy Whelpley, director of regional impact for KC2026, right, speaks during a GEWKC panel conversation about World Cup preparations for small businesses; photo by Tommy Felts, Startland News
KC2026 released its initial game plan in September. The new KC Game Plan Playbook provides more clear guidance and access to opportunities with new tools that will help local businesses maximize the economic and cultural impact of the once-in-a-generation tournament, Whelpley said.
The Community Activation Playbook features practical information, inspiration, and resources to help in understanding Kansas City’s Host City role and key events, welcoming visitors in ways that reflect the community’s character, navigating guidelines and requirements with confidence, and sparking ideas for celebrations, decor, and other activations, she added.
“We’re just excited to get the information out there,” Whelpley explained. “I think it’s the first time this community, this region, has put together tools that are this extensive. And we’re just excited to keep the communications open.”
“Using the business readiness assessment form,” she noted, “we continue to gather more data from small businesses about what they need. So we know this is dynamic, and we’re trying to be as flexible and adapt to the community and business needs as we can.”
KC2026 leaders plan to continue to update the playbook in the next couple of months with visitor insights — including team traditions — hospitality training resources, and predictive visitor heatmaps, Whelpley said. For example, with two Muslim-majority countries set to play in KC — Algeria and Tunisia — the group expects to release tips on how to welcome and accommodate things like dietary restrictions and worship practices.
“We know that everybody’s really eager to get these cultural insights, both at the community level and the business level,” she continued. “So we are working to develop those now that we know which teams are going to be competing here. Then we’re working with consulates, with the World Trade Center, Visit KC, and we just really want to make sure that we get those cultural insights right and really validate them before we’re sharing them.”
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Fans rally as performers hype up a crowd gathered Dec. 5 at Power and Light for the FIFA World Cup Final Draw; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
Now that matches have been assigned to specific cities, KC2026 is waiting to see more significant booking activity before releasing the predictive visitor heat maps, Whelpley noted.
“A lot of that visitor density will be determined by where they’re lodging,” she explained, “whether that’s short term rental, hotels, or extended stays. So we’re now starting to see some of that activity, and then I think we’ll re-evaluate right after we get back from the holidays, making sure that we’ve got some validity to that data before we share those.”
