No, Gold Cup attendance won’t hurt KC’s World Cup hopes. But there’s more to the story

Real talk, the crowd for the first night of the United States Men’s National Team Gold Cup matches at Children’s Mercy Park was small and — just a head’s up here — the crowd Thursday night will be even smaller.

We live in a time when everything must mean Something, so there is a tendency to wonder whether this will affect Kansas City’s bid to host 2026 World Cup matches. So, as a public service we can answer that here:

No. It won’t.

If that’s as far as you want to take this, that’s fine. We know you’re busy. But if you stick around a minute or two, there’s some nuance here that can help paint a fuller picture.

First, and this is more of a personal pet peeve, but we as humans need to get the heck past this awful and self-defeating place where fans are given two choices: buy often-overpriced tickets or be labeled bad fans.

We need to get way past that, because it is up to leagues, teams, events and bands to be worth our time and money — not the other way around.

If we’re talking specifically about the Gold Cup, ticket prices are set by CONCACAF and let’s just say some of these prices are ambitious for watching Martinique at 9 p.m. on a weeknight. If you were previously unaware that Martinique is a country — the third-largest island in the Lesser Antilles, by the way — let’s just say you are not alone.

There are a million factors going into the relatively small crowds, beyond ticket prices. This is not the USMNT’s A-team. Might not even be the B-Team. Sporting Kansas City’s schedule has been condensed with MLS starting a month later than usual, so three matches inside a week in the middle of July became a harder sell.

Gold Cup matches around the country are seeing relatively light crowds — Kansas City’s matches have outdrawn those in fellow bid cities Houston, Dallas and Orland — and, besides, the USMNT-Canada match on Sunday will be sold out. Event organizers couldn’t even find tickets for Patrick Mahomes. They will have sold more than 40,000 tickets by the end of the weekend.

But, still. Perception has always mattered here a little more than it should, and even without Gold Cup attendance being part of the official World Cup bid, it’s easy to imagine how all these things could be related.

We sometimes call ourselves the Soccer Capital of America. The crowd Sunday was live and energetic — the fans outperformed the game, if we’re honest — but how many people tuned in and thought wait, Kansas City claims what?

To borrow one of Andy Reid’s favorite phrases, here’s what’s real: Kansas City is essentially a coin-flip to host World Cup games.

The bid process is nearing its end, with the format expected to be announced early next year. FIFA officials will visit. They will have questions.

Kansas City has a lot going for it. Arrowhead Stadium is a top-shelf game venue, with the Chiefs onboard for soccer-friendly facility tweaks. We have plenty of arenas and facilities. Our geography should be a plus, with no other bid cities closer than an eight-hour drive. FIFA does not need to worry about World Cup tickets selling, but Kansas City’s support of soccer runs deep and is well known.

If nothing else, the Gold Cup matches will put officials and other countries in-person with facilities like Children’s Mercy Park and the Compass Minerals National Performance Center. Teams have some influence on the location of base camps, so the more eyeballs we get here the better.

Usually, the importance of hosting major events is overstated. Organizers commission studies to produce laughable economic impact estimates. Events are temporary, and many people watching on TV don’t know or care where the game is being played. Where’s the prestige in that?

The World Cup is different. The World Cup is one of one, a global force on the scale of multiple Super Bowls. The economic impact would be significant because so many of the fans would be traveling — many from other countries — and that kind of exposure can have lasting impact.

More importantly for those of us who plan on being in Kansas City after the summer of 2026, major events have a way of forcing cities to present the best version of themselves. We’ll get that in 2023, when the NFL Draft will happen around Union Station a month or so after the new airport terminal opens.

Kansas City’s biggest weakness in terms of a World Cup bid might be our public transportation, and if this provides extra motivation for us to get closer to where major cities should be in the 21st century then the process will benefit us long after the tournament is over.

The Gold Cup is fun; it is both a chance to see some form of the USMNT in person and a reminder that there is a bigger game being played behind the scenes.

Kansas City’s success or failure in that game won’t be determined by the size of the Martinique crowd, but if it’s a reminder of the importance of landing World Cup games then maybe we’ll all be better off for it.