FILE - The FIFA World Cup Trophy is displayed before press conference at Rockefeller Plaza, June 16, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray, File)

In preparing for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, local leaders in Kansas City and Lawrence suggested that there would be a huge wave of visitors, citing estimates from FIFA that potentially 650,000 people could come to the region during the month-long tournament — a number of visitors larger than Kansas City, Missouri’s own population.

But a recent report from the American Hotel & Lodging Association suggests that massive wave won’t come to the shore. The AHLA surveyed hoteliers across all 11 host cities in the United States — five cities in Mexico and Canada will also host matches — with the report finding “anticipated demand has not translated into strong hotel bookings.” The majority of respondents, 80%, said bookings are below initial forecasts with domestic travelers outpacing international visitors. Many respondents point to high prices for match and airline tickets and visa barriers as creating this perfect storm.

With all those negative factors, Ruth DeWitt, the director of community relations for Explore Lawrence, told the Journal-World the group is “focus(ing) on things we can control, not dwell(ing) on things we can’t.” Although she assumes factors around international travel impacted many fans and led to fewer bookings nationwide, DeWitt said they are “starting to see an uptick” in hotel bookings in the region.

While it remains to be seen how many visitors will come to the region during the tournament, DeWitt said Lawrence will be able to welcome them.

“No matter who is here, our community is ready,” DeWitt said.

KANSAS CITY FARES THE WORST

Although the AHLA report found many host cities were experiencing lower bookings, no market fared worse than Kansas City, according to the report.

Approximately 85% to 90% of respondents from Kansas City reported the booking pace is below expectations. Some are even trailing a typical June and July. According to the report, one large problem for hotels in Kansas City was FIFA canceling its blocks of hotels.

The report said FIFA had “locked up large pools” of hotel rooms before the tournament, and those blocks shaped hotels’ revenue forecasts, staffing plans and other World Cup preparation plans. Those blocks also manufactured artificial demand because hotels appeared to be more booked. When FIFA released the blocks of rooms, it reversed the artificial demand and created more pressure for the hotels to fill the gaps, which often means lower rates. Kansas City hoteliers reported “extensive FIFA room block cancellations” that reached as high as 75 to 90% of hotels’ originally contracted inventory.

The pressure on the room rates can be seen in Lawrence as well. Chuck Magerl, the proprietor of Free State Brewing Company, shared data with the Journal-World that tracked the room rate of one room at a Comfort Inn and Suites in Lawrence for June 12 — one day after the tournament would begin. Although he said it is a “crude” approach, it can provide some clue of demand.

On December 6, 2025 — days after the World Cup draw was announced — the rate for that room was $382 a night. As of May 12, 2026, the price of the hotel was at $141. That rate is lower than the listed rate for KU Mom’s weekend, which was $249 a night, according to the data.

Kim Anspach, the executive director of Explore Lawrence, said once the organization saw “softer-than-anticipated booking trends,” it launched a digital campaign focusing on Algerian travelers — Lawrence is hosting the Algerian national team – and domestic soccer fans. She said those campaigns drive users directly to hotel booking information and lodging pages in Lawrence.

TICKET PRICES

Another problem out of organizers’ hands is the match day ticket prices.

While American fans are used to seeing high ticket prices for marquee events like the Super Bowl or the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four, most international soccer fans would view tickets that cost a thousand dollars for one match as “eye-watering,” according to Stephen Young, an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who recently taught a class called “The Global Game: Soccer, Politics and Identity.”

Young said many international soccer fans, especially those from Europe, are used to having more say in how their favorite clubs operate. In Germany, for example, there is a rule where the fans must own over 50 percent of the club. Young said fans across Europe will often stage protests against their owners if they decide to raise the price of season tickets. There aren’t similar movements like that in the United States where professional teams are seen as franchises that historically have been viewed as arenas for private owners to maximize profit.

“These are not prices many football fans outside of North America are accustomed to paying,” Young said.

During the last UEFA European Championship, which was held in Germany in 2024, Young said the cheapest match ticket cost $34.87 USD. By contrast, the cheapest tickets that FIFA issued, known as “Category 4” tickets are “four or five times higher” than those tickets, according to Young. Additionally, this is the first year that FIFA has used dynamic pricing, meaning tickets are more expensive depending on the demand. While some matches may cost hundreds of dollars, matches that feature powerhouse national teams like Argentina and Brazil are in the thousands, according to an AP report.

Young said that FIFA, which generates billions of dollars and is technically a tax-free nonprofit, gets about 90% of its operating revenue from the men’s World Cup every four years. Because of that, FIFA wants to find ways to keep as much of that revenue as possible. That could be a reason why the prices for this tournament are higher compared to others.

“I think this is an attempt to capitalize on a market where those kinds of prices domestically are unlikely to generate the same social backlash,” Young said.

DIFFICULT TRAVEL

Even with the high costs, some fans might be opting against traveling to the United States because of the geopolitical climate and visa restrictions.

In recent months, the United States’ bombing of Iran led to a crisis in the Middle East which has had ripple effects that have raised prices globally and add to the risk of oil shortages. Those shocks have made air travel more expensive, but the broader international perceptions about the country’s foreign policy also “further dampened enthusiasm,” according to the AHLA report.

The Trump Administration has made deportations a focus of its immigration policy, and it has placed more restrictions on visitors from other countries being allowed to come to the United States. One such restriction was a visa bond program which required residents of 50 countries to provide a $10,000 bond to obtain a visa. That list of countries included Algeria, whose national team selected Lawrence as its base camp, and four other countries who qualified for the World Cup.

Although the U.S. State Department waived the bond requirement Thursday for “certain individuals” traveling to the country for the World Cup, it has only waived the bond requirement citizens of the five countries competing in the World Cup. However, the waiver extends only to athletes and team members, “including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role and immediate relatives” and to nationals who “by April 15 purchased FIFA World Cup tickets and opted in to the FIFA Priority Appointment Scheduling System Pass through the FIFA website,” according to the State Department’s website.

Those factors have created a context where entering the country “is something they are concerned about” for certain visitors, according to Young. Those concerns may extend to Algerian fans who “don’t want to deal with everything happening around immigration,” but he also said it could be deterring a fan from a country like Norway from visiting who might not feel they would be profiled based on immigration but “disagree with the (U.S.) political direction on principles.”

‘READINESS AND WELCOME’

Although Lawrence organizers like DeWitt have found many factors of the World Cup preparation beyond their control, she believes that June and July in Lawrence “are going to be fantastic.”

DeWitt said Explore Lawrence centered its preparations for the tournament on “readiness and welcome, not on speculation” of how many visitors would come. Some of that preparation included creating authentic events, like the six official community watch parties that “will inspire soccer fans of all ages,” according to DeWitt.

Although the projected number of visitors seems to be below expectations, DeWitt said the preparation between community groups to be involved indicates to her “success for us is already happening.” She believes that anyone who visits Lawrence and experiences the fun of the summer “will inspire them to share what a fantastic place Lawrence is … (and) inspire them to return.”