KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Officials organizing Kansas City’s hosting of FIFA’s 2026 World Cup said Friday that new data shows all six Kansas City matches are trending to be sold out.
KC2026 CEO Pam Kramer spoke with reporters Friday to provide an update as the first match on June 16 draws closer.
Kramer said FIFA data showing the Kansas City matches trending to be a sellout also showed that the majority of those tickets have been purchased from outside of the Kansas City area.
LINK | FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage from KSHB 41
Earlier this week, the American Hotel and Lodging Association released a report showing hotel bookings not matching the anticipated demand by hoteliers in World Cup host cities, including Kansas City.
“Those hotel numbers are a data point on how the local hotel community is feeling,” Kramer said Friday, but added that “it’s important to look at all the data points we have.”
In addition to the matches trending toward being sold out, Kramer cited increased capacity at Kansas City International Airport, and fan registration data for FIFA Fan Fest coming from 112 countries and every state in the U.S.
Adding that requests to access Fan Fest is up especially among neighboring states like Illinois and Colorado.
— Daniela Leon (@danielaleontv) May 8, 2026
Kramer also spoke to a report earlier this week that the region is outpacing every other U.S. World Cup host city in demand for short-term rentals like Airbnbs.
LINK | Kansas City short-term rental owners see FIFA World Cup 2026 demand surge, but pricing gap looms
Officials highlighted particular interest from fans from Argentina and Ecuador in coming to Kansas City.
Argentina, the defending World Cup champion, will open 2026 World Cup play on June 16 against Algeria. Argentina is also one of four countries that will call Kansas City home as their base camp during the tournament, with England, the Netherlands and Algeria being the others.
Kramer said her team has been working with embassy officials from nine countries — including countries that don’t have matches in Kansas City — that want to have a presence in Kansas City because they expect a large number of citizens from their countries to be in the city.
“The World Cup kind of transcends a lot of things, and the interest in sport is strong,” Kramer said to a question about international visitors coming during a period of geopolitical uncertainty.
On Thursday, VisitKC President and CEO Kathy Nelson spoke about the last few weeks before the World Cup at VisitKC’s annual tourism event.
"Increases from key international markets are substantial," Nelson said. "The Netherlands has grown more than 100%, Argentina more than 650%, and Ecuador more than 1,100%."
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