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Kansas City World Cup 2026 organizers outlined transportation improvements on Friday they hope will help fans get to Saturday’s match between Curaçao and Ecuador at Kansas City Stadium.
Officials with FIFA and KC2026, the local World Cup organizing committee, met throughout this week to work on improvements and discuss lessons learned following the city’s first World Cup match Tuesday between Argentina and Algeria.
“The place we are most focused on is transportation,” KC2026 CEO Pam Kramer said in a news conference Friday from FIFA Fan Fest Kansas City at the National World War I Museum and Memorial.
Kramer outlined several changes that will be implemented ahead of Saturday’s match.
Kramer said that, in addition to beefing up Stadium Direct service from Fan Fest, fans at Fan Fest heading to the match can take the KC Streetcar to the Country Club Plaza Stadium Direct stop.
“We’re doing so much right, and we’ll get this right too,” Kramer said.
LINK | Transportation information from Connect KC26
Kramer said the Stadium Direct bus service transported 19,000 fans to the stadium on Tuesday night. She said 98% of fans were in their seats by kickoff.
Al Miller/KSHB 41
Deon Whitten, fan who attended Tuesday’s match
Deon Whitten, a longtime Kansas City Chiefs fan who attended Tuesday’s match, waited 2 and a half hours and said the core issue was straightforward.
“We’re just talking about a math problem,” Whitten said.
Whitten said the setup required him to rethink his entire approach to getting into the venue.
“I had to reimagine and reconfigure how I was even going to get in based on what FIFA set up, not how I would do (it) for a Chiefs game,” Whitten said.
He said the volume of people arriving at once created the bottleneck.
KC2026 announces transportation improvements ahead of 2nd Kansas City World Cup match
“You had a high volume of individuals trying to bottleneck into the stadium at the same time, so that just created a logistical nightmare,” Whitten said.
After long waits for buses Tuesday, some fans walked 45 minutes to the stadium.
Al Miller/KSHB 41
Fans walking along Blue Ridge Cutoff to get to Kansas City Stadium on June 16, 2026.
KC2026 CEO Pam Kramer addressed fan concerns at a press conference Friday and acknowledged the experience fell short of expectations.
“I’m hopeful they’ll give us another chance, that is not our standard,” Kramer said.
KC2026 provides transportation updates ahead of 2nd Kansas City World Cup match
KC2026 is rolling out a series of improvements, including earlier bus pickups. Stadium direct buses will leave as soon as they have access to the gates.
KC2026 also said it is working on improved signage and increased communication to help traffic flow more smoothly.
Kramer said FIFA controls stadium operations, and KC2026 does not yet know whether more gates will be opened.
She said specific gate changes are still being evaluated.
“I think they’re still looking at specific changes to the gates, 2, 6, 5 in particular I think, and then just making sure people at those gates are empowered to make real-time decisions,” Kramer said.
Kramer noted that hosting Argentina made Tuesday’s event an especially large first test.
“We had perhaps the largest first test of any host city with Argentina,” Kramer said.
Whitten said the experience was worth it, but he has reservations about attending his next match despite holding tickets.
“I just don’t want to sit in traffic. The juice isn’t worth the squeeze,” Whitten said.
FIFA also outlined a list of updates to their own mobility plan.
“FIFA will be implementing a series of immediate, high-level proactive fan communications and adjustments at the stadium designed to streamline arrivals, strengthen directional signage, and reduce congestion at gates ahead of upcoming matches,” a FIFA spokesperson wrote.
These include:
Working with ride-share partners to only drop fans off at Lot O.For those fans with parking passes, increased emphasis on how those fans should enter, where they should enter, and empowering parking lot staff to help fans get where they need to go.Stadium Direct buses will leave as soon as they have access to the gatesTraffic control coordination will begin 90 minutes earlier than the previous matchImprove way-finding signage at the stadium.Improve visibility with Google Maps and other services.
“FIFA remains committed to working collaboratively with the Host City, law enforcement partners, venue operators and transportation agencies to identify lessons learned and implement improvements ahead of future matches,” the spokerserson wrote.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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