The vehicle hadn’t moved in several minutes, and it had covered only 10 miles in two hours, before a family of four parked on the side of the road, abandoning it for later. They walked the final mile to Arrowhead Stadium to ensure an on-time arrival for a World Cup match Tuesday, and then fired off some text messages to vent about it. A few hours later, they, along with the rest of us, were talking about something else entirely. Lionel Messi. Messi secured a
hat trick in Argentina’s 3-0 win against Algeria in the first World Cup match ever played in Kansas City. A bucket-list item didn’t merely live up to the hype, but surpassed it. It was a remarkable night, enough to make you forget about the disastrous pre-game traffic and parking. Kansas City won’t have that luxury Saturday. It won’t have Messi. The World Cup is back in Kansas City for a second round — Ecuador and Curaçao meet here Saturday. It’s also a second chance. The
ingress challenges have occupied the bulk of this week’s conversations inside KC2026, the city’s World Cup committee, CEO Pam Kramer said Friday. She’s confident they will get it fixed. There is a lot riding on all involved improving a situation best described as chaotic and perhaps most suitably described as unwarranted. Kansas City has filled Arrowhead Stadium plenty of times before. It has never made the radius outside the gates look like its own parking lot. Messi was worth the wait. He’s not on the
sideline Saturday. The first signs Friday were encouraging: The people in charge recognize it. Kramer’s group does not bear sole responsibility for the mess, yet she spent the majority of a 15-minute news conference Friday taking questions about one topic: traffic. And her responses were not defensive but rather underscored looming changes outlined to solve a significant challenge: • KC2026 plans to push out new route and parking instructions on their social changes and website, along with linking to the FIFA website. • They are
pleading with ride-share companies, such as Uber and Lyft, to instruct their drivers to drop off riders at the designated and mandatory zone, located in Lot O. • They have requested Google to update maps with preferred routes to the gates. • The buses will leave for the stadium earlier, timed for arrival as soon as FIFA will allow the gates to open, to help break up the clutter. • The less-trafficked areas for the opening match will redeploy some of its buses to the
more congested areas, such as FanFest. • They have asked staff to arrive earlier so they aren’t mixed in with fans. “I’m hopeful (people) will give us another chance,” Kramer said. “This is not our standard. . Let us prove to you we can get this right.” It’s not all in their hands. This city hosts nearly 80,000 fans at the same stadium every other weekend in the fall and winter. For the six World Cup matches in Kansas City, FIFA has taken over the
stadium operations, replacing a starter who probably didn’t need replacing. Can they really not figure out a way to open more than a couple of gates? Did they not believe they needed to communicate to local Kansas Citians when they planned to close some of them? To be sure, there are increased security measures during this tournament, and a higher percentage of people who have never before attended an event here. FIFA could still lean on those who have hosted one, and particularly those who
host them regularly — like the NFL team that housed six of the past eight AFC Championship Games absent the same chaos. “We’re providing input and certainly collaboration, but at the end of the day, FIFA controls the stadium operations. But it’s been a collaboration all week,” Kramer said. “It is so complex. There is so much that’s interrelated that you can’t look at any one thing in isolation.” On the outside, this entire conversation doesn’t stand in isolation. The FanFest events have been a
major part of the city’s early success as a host. Watch parties for the two U.S. men’s national team games played elsewhere drew huge, lively crowds. The endearing interactions between international visitors and local Kansas Citians should be lasting memories. And there are yet five matches left, including a looming quarterfinal that could return Argentina — and its huge following — to Kansas City. There is plenty to like and enjoy here. Let’s hope that’s all the entire of the conversation for the next three
weeks — with or without Messi to lend a hand.
KC2026, Pam Kramer, World Cup traffic, Arrowhead Stadium, Lot O, ride-share drop-off, Uber, Lyft, Google maps, buses, FanFest, FIFA stadium operations, Ecuador vs. Curaçao, Lionel Messi