World Cup Impact: What will influx of KC visitors mean to Springfield?

Mark Hecquet: It's hard to predict what the World Cup will mean for Springfield.

There are roughly 373 days from now to the start of the 2026 World Cup, but that’s a blink of an eye as far as Mark Hecquet is concerned.

Hecquet, president and CEO of Visit Springfield, Missouri, the city’s tourism office, is getting ready to market the city to 2026 visitors who plan to watch one of six World Cup games being played in Kansas City, and he noted the World Cup offers a unique opportunity to shine a light on Springfield.

But there is also a unique challenge in determining where to target marketing efforts, according to Hecquet.

“The biggest unknown with the World Cup right now is that we don’t know who’s coming and who’s coming where,” he said, noting teams must qualify for the competition and the schedule for who plays at each venue must then be drawn up. “We don’t know who to market to.”

There are 48 teams scheduled to compete in the World Cup, and where they come from won’t be known until closer to the competition.

Kansas City expects more than 650,000 visitors and 2.1 million visitor days in connection with the six World Cup games happening there from June 16-27, 2026, according to KC2026, the nonprofit organization that heads Kansas City’s World Cup tourism efforts.

International guests are expected to drive $653 million in direct economic impact, including $21 million in state taxes from hotel stays, according to KC2026. Additionally, a FIFA Fan Fest will be held at the city’s National World War I Memorial, with 25,000 attendees expected each day.

Kansas City is one of 16 cities hosting 104 matches in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Among KC’s six matches will be a quarterfinal game at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Hecquet has attended World Cup games, including in Brazil, where his home country’s team, England, was playing.

“It’s a fantastic event – it brings enthusiasm from around the world,” he said.

Springfield impact
Asked whether Springfield would get a surge of visitors from World Cup games two and a half hours away, Hecquet said it’s hard to predict.

“The question has been what does that mean for Springfield, and I’ll just be very honest with you: I don’t know right now,” he said.

Because there’s no way of knowing which teams will play in KC or have their U.S. base there, Hecquet said marketing is tricky.

“Are we expecting an influx of World Cup fans? Some yes, an influx would be great, but probably unlikely,” he said. “The audience stays in the city; they’ll enjoy the games, and after they go to the game, they’ll watch more games on TV. Then they’ll travel to a different city to follow their team around.”

Hecquet knows this from experience from his 2014 trip to Brazil, where he said he went to games in three different cities and watched with 200,000 other fans while the U.S. played on screens on Copacabana Beach.

“That was one of my best experiences,” he said. “If you love soccer, it’s your moment.”

Hecquet said there are three potential audiences for World Cup visitation to Springfield. First, with 650,000 fans descending on Kansas City, there will be a compression effect that forces some visitors to surrounding cities – maybe as far as Springfield.

A second potential audience is Kansas Citians who are not soccer fans and who want to get away from the chaos. Springfield could coax them here for relief from the crowds, he said.

And a third potential visitor is a World Cup visitor who wants to find nearby diversions. Route 66 is very appealing to international travelers, Hecquet said, and some may be interested in taking a slight jog to the birthplace of Route 66 as they travel to and from the games in Kansas City or to games in other host cities, such as Dallas.

International visitors
The visitors are expected to be 54% international, a fact that may cause a hiccup for would-be attendees.

Many countries – among them Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom – have issued travel advisories for their residents wanting to visit the United States. Countries warn travelers that U.S. police may detain people they suspect of being in the country illegally. Additionally, nonbinary or transgender travelers are advised that the U.S. insists they indicate their gender as “male” or “female” according to the gender assigned at birth; a perceived mismatch could result in their not being permitted into the country, even with an authorized visa.

On May 13, the World Travel & Tourism Council released data showing the U.S. stands to lose $12.5 billion in international visitor spending in 2025. The estimated visitor expenditures international for 2025 are $169 billion, down from $181 billion in 2024 – a 6.6% decline year over year and a 22.5% decline compared to the previous peak, the $217.4 billion in revenue reported in 2019.

Notably, the WTTC reports that the U.S. is the only country among 186 economies it analyzes where international visitor spending is anticipated to decline.

The organization predicts a 15% year-over-year decline in visitors from the United Kingdom 28% from Germany and 15% from South Korea. Other key markets – among them Spain, Colombia, Ireland, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic, are predicted to drop in the range of 24%-33%. Canadian bookings are down 20% over last year.

Travel and tourism contributed $2.6 trillion to the U.S economy in 2024, supporting some 20 million jobs and generating $585 billion in tax revenue, accounting for 7% of all government income.

But Hecquet said fans wait four years for the World Cup, and he anticipates that they will travel to the U.S. in large numbers.

“They’ll come regardless – they just don’t know where they’re going yet,” he said.

Soccer fans look forward to the World Cup, according to Hecquet.

“One of the things that’s quite magical about the World Cup is that it isn’t just people following their teams – it’s people all over the world who just love soccer.”

He said fans want to celebrate the game and see the best teams in the world play, even if the fans are not from either country that is playing.

Kurt Austin, senior director of communications for Major League Soccer team Sporting Kansas City, said the last time the World Cup was in the U.S. was in 1994, when it set records around ticket sales that still have not been broken, in part because of the size of its venues – mostly National Football League stadiums.

“This is an opportunity to try to rewrite those record books,” he said. “It’s a real testament to the U.S. We have great venues and great fans.”

In 1994, 3.5 million tickets were sold to the 52 games that were played, Austin said. Double that number will be played in 2026.

Austin said when officials were working on the bid to bring the 2026 World Cup to KC, they had to prove there were at least 55,000 hotel rooms available in a two-and-a-half-hour radius – an imaginary circle that includes Springfield.

“We’re expecting visitors to be using those accommodations,” he said.

A big year
Cora Scott, Springfield’s director of public information and civic engagement, said she is excited to go to a World Cup game in Kansas City.

“I’m not extraordinarily interested in soccer, but I’m very interested in being part of something that is unique and may never come this close again,” she said.

Scott pointed out that in January, then-Mayor Ken McClure issued a proclamation challenging city residents to create a cleaner and greener Springfield in 2025. An announcement from the city noted the world would be watching as the Queen City kicks off the 100th anniversary of Route 66, the country celebrates its semiquincentennial (a word that will roll off the lips more easily as we gear up for the nation’s 250th anniversary) and the World Cup comes to KC.

The former mayor encouraged residents to take small steps, like carrying a bag for litter when they walk or watching for community cleanup and beautification opportunities.

Scott said one thing Springfieldians are very good at is responding quickly to opportunities. She recalled when the St. Louis Blues won hockey’s championship Stanley Cup in 2019. Springfield had a two-week window to create memorable experiences for local and visiting fans, and 12,000 of them had an opportunity for a picture with the famous traveling trophy.

“The Blues organization was completely blown away,” she said, noting pop-up events were held at Bass Pro Shops, a downtown bar and the city’s Jordan Valley (now Brightspeed) Ice Park.

What the city will be permitted to do by the state and the World Cup is in question, and Hecquet said it is important for Kansas City to shine, since Springfield and all of Missouri will benefit from the international spotlight.

Because of all of the unknowns, Hecquet said Springfield will once again have to be nimble.

“When things are set, we’ll be ready to go and create some things,” he said.

Scott said the spirit of collaboration is strong around the state for all that is happening in 2026.

“I feel like on the tourism side, the state is starting to gel more than I’ve seen in the past,” she said.