And just like that …
After years of planning and months of intense hype, the Kansas City region’s World Cup experience is coming to a close.
On Saturday, Kansas City will host the last of six World Cup matches at Arrowhead Stadium, when Argentina takes on Switzerland in a quarterfinal.
That won’t be the end of the tournament, but it will mark a symbolic finish to Kansas City’s chapter in the 2026 World Cup.
We want to know: how has it been for you?
Three months ago, we asked our readers in Johnson County how they felt as we approached what promised to be one of the biggest events this region has ever hosted.
Reader sentiment at that time was decidedly mixed.
Out of more than 400 responses, there were near even distributions of people who said they were “all in,” “cautiously optimistic,” “nervous,” “totally out” or didn’t care.
Though not scientific, the poll demonstrated an ambivalence many Johnson Countians felt about the World Cup. Much of that seemed due to the unknown, with readers expressing concerns about an influx of visitors, traffic and public safety.
But now we’ve seen what the World Cup has brought to the Kansas City area and to our Johnson County communities.
By now, you’ve surely seen the crowds at FIFA Fan Fest outside the World War I Museum and Memorial or at the Power & Light District downtown. You may have gone to these venues yourself or taken in a watch party more locally in Johnson County.
You might have been someone who took one of the temporary buses that shuttled people to the airport or around Johnson County as part of a special World Cup transportation network.
You might have spied England players on a walk in Meadowbrook Park. Or you might have met someone from a foreign country who was here for the matches or the party.
Kansas City has earned plaudits nationally and internationally for its enthusiasm around the global soccer tournament. We’ve been one of the highest-rated U.S. TV markets for the World Cup so far.
And who can forget the energy and unexpected bond that built up between the Algerian team and nearby Lawrence?
Questions remain, though. Were the preparations and planning worth it? We’ll have to wait and see if the metro hit the much-cited figure of 650,000 visitors, though anecdotally, it doesn’t seem like it.
Likewise, we’ll get a fuller evaluation of the payoff for Johnson County. Preliminary numbers suggest ridership on those temporary buses was low, for example.
Those questions and more won’t be fully answered until later, but we want to start taking stock of our readers’ World Cup vibes now that the tournament is ending.
Respond to our poll below. If you want, also answer the open-ended question that follows to give us a better idea of what questions we can be asking in the wake of the World Cup.
As with past reader polls, the Post knows this isn’t scientific, but we want to hear at a gut level what our readers and the Johnson County community are thinking.
