Kansas City organizers lay out World Cup plan to link visitors with Main Street businesses

Tracy Welpe, director of regional impact for KC 2026, told a House Small Business Committee roundtable that organizers have focused on contracting transparency, digital planning tools and loan readiness to ensure small businesses can capture World Cup spending.

“We started back in about a year ago…we pulled together a group of small business champions,” Welpe said, describing work with the Kauffman Foundation, SBDCs, SCORE, CDFIs, and state tourism offices. She said KC2026 has submitted business interest forms to FIFA and built a KC Game Plan that includes a data tool for businesses to model likely foot‑traffic changes and a regional digital journey planner intended to direct visitors across neighborhoods.

Welpe estimated roughly 650,000 visitors to the region and said KC2026 is coordinating with Visit KC and the Kansas and Missouri tourism departments to target lodging, transportation and multilingual communications, including WhatsApp, for international guests.

Panelists cautioned that not all businesses will see the same uplift and urged training on cultural expectations, payment terms and export opportunities. Andy Reager, a distillery owner, said converting event visitors into long‑term export relationships requires a mix of trade missions and initial incentives to help overseas buyers absorb higher U.S. costs.

The session produced no formal commitments of federal funds; panelists said their next steps are localized technical assistance, lender coordination for an anticipated influx of loan applications, and continued outreach to FIFA and tour operators.