KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson covers portions of Johnson County, including Overland Park, Prairie Village and Leawood. Share your story idea with Alyssa.
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This time next year, multiple sites in the Kansas City area will serve as hosts for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
While planning has been ongoing for years, it takes a big budget to pull off a world event.
KC2026 is the nonprofit handling all the host city strategy and planning. The organization estimates will take $165 million to host the World Cup.
It pulled together a combination state, local and private funding.
The state of Missouri is KC2026's biggest contributor, covering $74 million in expenses.
The state of Kansas is funding $28 million.
Johnson County Commissioners have approved funding $1.5 million from their budget.
In 2023, Kansas City, Missouri, approved an ordinance to allocate $15 million to World Cup expenses . They money will be spread out through next year.
The uses of the funding include venues, FIFA fan fest, transportation, staffing, security, marketing and insurance.
The city of Overland Park is not contributing to KC2026. It's spending on its own efforts.
"This is just going to be way bigger than we can conceive of so we're planning to the extent that we can," said Meg Ralph, communications director for the City of Overland Park.
The city of Overland Park's budget is not finalized yet. However, it's planning to allocate:
- $200,000 toward a joint transportation collaboration with Johnson County.
- $50,000 for World Cup-adjacent activities at city parks, as well as, an expanded Star-Spangled Spectacular fireworks event.
- $25,000 for World Cup emergency equipment/supplies and public safety
Johnson County unveiled the World Cup buses on Monday.
With all of the visitors coming into town, Overland Park is expecting to see revenue increases from the current sales tax and hotel tax.
"We want to show off our city, both Kansas City, Overland Park and the whole metro in the best way possible," Ralph said. "That means being ready for additional traffic, additional demand on hotel rooms, more people in town, more businesses that will be busier."
With roughly 350 days to go, all the planning across both state lines will be evident to the world.
Ralph said: "We're still wrapping our heads around how many people that will be."
KC2026 organizers expect the financial impact to be around $652 million.
