12/05/2025
โฝ๏ธ๐ The World Cup is headed to Kansas City in 2026, and the official group assignments have just landed. If you're strategizing around hospitality, partnerships, marketing, or tourism, you need to be paying attention!
Why? Yes, we're hosting some soccer matches. But for 40 days, starting in June, Kansas City will also host cultures, languages, fan bases, and media, while giving them a firsthand experience sharing those same things with an estimated 600,000 visitors. Expect restaurants, transportation providers, beverage brands, event venues, content creators, and tourism-facing businesses to gain global exposure.
Those of us in the following industries should get really intentional about our summer planning...
Hospitality
Tourism
Culinary + food trucks
Hair + beauty services
Events
Creatives + content production
Nonprofits with community visibility
Think partnerships. Think cross-cultural engagement. Think translation, international-friendly menus, fan zones, merchandise, airport presence, fan lodging, mobile activations, and video content that taps into global algorithms, not just what's happening in the metro and surrounding Kansas City.
Reynolds & Third will be sharing strategic insights on how businesses can position themselves to capitalize, and not just spectate. You don't have to know soccer to win during soccer in Kansas City. You don't have to understand opportunity.
Let's work on rotating that lens from the games in Kansas City to leveraging the games for your business.