World Cup hosts launch KC Game Plan for entrepreneurs; heat map, cultural insights on global visitors warming up next

Kansas City boasts no better roster of ambassadors than the region’s small business owners, said Tracy Whelpley, announcing a new KC2026 “Game Plan” for entrepreneurs who are eager to put cleats to streets ahead of the incoming FIFA World Cup.

“There’s so many entrepreneurial people out there and they really represent what our community is all about,” said Whelpley, director of regional impact for KC2026, the local host city organizer for World Cup activities.

The KC Game Plan — developed with the input of about 90 organizations, she said — notably includes a confidential small business readiness assessment, as well as links to trainings and events. Designed specifically for business owners in such high-engagement industries as dining, lodging, retail and entertainment, the game plan is available in English and Spanish.

Its readiness tool includes a simple checklist where such entrepreneurs can rate their own readiness on a number of topics, Whelpley detailed.

“It’s really to prompt people on what they need to be thinking about, and then direct them to the resources where they can start to get some of those low cost, no cost trainings,” she said.

Click here to take the small business readiness assessment.

Subsequent resources for business owners could include help with issues like lender readiness, cybersecurity, marketing and branding guidelines, scaling up with seasonal employees, and translation services for menus. 

Heat map projections showing where visitors are expected to concentrate during the games are slated for release later this fall, followed by cultural insights on the expected visitors once teams and matches are set (and organizers know the home countries and fandoms of those setting up camp in Kansas City).

Click here to see what else is on the way from KC2026.

Taking on the task together

With at least 650,000 visitors set to descend on the region next summer, Whelpley said, it was critical to source community knowledge in crafting the plan.

“What I love about this group is they want to provide really clear-eyed counsel to businesses and not oversell them,” she noted of the chambers of commerce, nonprofit entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs), and others who provided input, “but also recognizing that if they’re not prepared, that’s a missed opportunity.”

Click here to volunteer for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

Tracy Whelpley, director of regional impact for FIFA World Cup Kansas City, speaks in March to a crowd at CPKC Stadium, gathered to talk about World Cup preparations; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

In February, Whelpley began meeting with organizations like the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, and several ESOs whose leaders hoped to help shape the plan.

“Even before we hosted town halls and opened surveys, the key messages were that there’s a great ecosystem in place that’s already offering a lot of the tools that could help small businesses prepare for this opportunity,” she explained. “Let’s not recreate the wheel where we don’t have to; let’s leverage the programs and relationships that exist.”

“But let’s remember there’s a lot of information that small businesses are going to need to make informed decisions about their own strategy for participating,” Whelpley added.

ICYMI: Kauffman targets $250K grant toward vacant storefront revitalization as World Cup looms

The KC2026 team expects to work with organizations KC BizCare, KCSourceLink and SCORE Kansas City to extend the appropriate resources to entrepreneurs, she noted.

“The SBDC, the chambers, the nonprofit ESOs really want to continue to stay involved in either developing specific trainings where they’re needed, hosting them, and understanding where are the communities that we may need to go into in order to deliver it,” Whelpley explained, detailing the need to meet business owners where they’re located and with familiar faces.

“We’re reaching into those communities, finding people who are trusted and allowing us to come in,” she said of the engagement strategy, which also includes coordinating with self-organized task forces that formed after the World Cup host cities were announced.

ICYMI: World Cup will produce KC small biz millionaires in just weeks, leaders say, but it’s only the start

Nia Webster, assistant director of Neighborhood Services Department, which oversees the KC BizCare Office, and Tracy Whelpley, director of regional impact for FIFA World Cup Kansas City, speak in April during a town hall event organized by KCMO’s Small Business Task Force; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

Mapping out impact

A predictive analytics partner has teamed with KC2026 to project where visitors are most likely to congregate during the Kansas City games, mapping out density expectations across the metro. Once that data is released this fall, organizers and business owners alike will be even more prepared for the customers to come, Whelpley said.

Regional leaders discuss Kansas City preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup alongside host city supporters from Populous and Purina during an update event June 11 at Union Station in Kansas City; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

“That heat map will give someone the ability to get down to a neighborhood level and say, ‘OK, is that three times, four times, five times more visitors than I’d normally see over this period of time? Because that helps me understand how to plan,’” she continued.

Some businesses might see from the maps that they aren’t in the heart of the action, Whelpley added, but can use those details to plan for how they’ll still take advantage of the region-wide influx.

“Maybe there’s opportunities for collaborations or reaching out to those communities that are going to be hosting so many of these events,” she said. “We know a lot of groups have already self-organized to pull off celebrations and events during the games that are all going to need suppliers and collaborators.”

“The opportunity lies in having a game plan for your business to welcome these visitors — whoever they are, wherever they are,” Whelpley said.

Click here to learn more about who should be preparing for the World Cup’s arrival in Kansas City.