Around midnight, when the chant stops and the bar bill goes over, you realize Kansas City isn’t just hosting a soccer tournament. It’s hosting a version of itself that it’s been working on behind the scenes for years.
That Tuesday, Katie Vallee, who works at Up-Down KC in the Crossroads Arts District, ran out of Modelo. It’s not Saturday. This isn’t a playoff weekend. It was a Tuesday in June after Lionel Messi scored three goals against Algeria in Kansas City’s first-ever World Cup game. At least for one night, the arcade bar felt more like a global living room.
Manager Will McDaniel said it in a way that makes sense if you’ve seen this city work through Chiefs seasons, MLS playoff runs, and any other reason it could find to fill a bar. “It’s one day and probably four hours of the day for a Super Bowl,” he replied. “This has been going on for a month and all day. “That on steroids.” That’s not just hype. That’s the way things work in terms of logistics and money.
Sixteen bars in Kansas City were allowed to stay open until 5 a.m. while the tournament was going on. That detail alone shows how seriously the city took this and how ready, or not ready, different parts of it were. McDaniel said that the difference between a crowd at 1:30 a.m. and one at 4:30 a.m. is important. It’s not the same job to keep everyone happy and safe. The bars kept their doors open, though. It looks like the math made it worth it.
The economy is more complicated than the headlines make it seem, though. Crown Center restaurants in downtown Kansas City said it was more like a normal summer week, with busy times and quiet times. Jessica Peña, the general manager of Unforked, was honest: she didn’t think FIFA was changing her numbers in a meaningful way. Her theory, which makes sense, is that fans were concentrating at the FIFA Fan Fest and watch party venues rather than spreading out to eat at all the restaurants in the city. It’s still not clear if that will change as the tournament goes on.
One thing that does seem to be changing is how the crowds act. McDaniel said that he was almost surprised by how nice the visitors from other countries have been. There is something worth thinking about when a city that built its sports culture around football and barbecue suddenly starts to host fans from Argentina, Algeria, and other places, and most people say the exchange is genuinely good. That wasn’t a given.
The background is important here. It’s been ten years since Power & Light District and Sporting Kansas City opened No Other Pub together as a sports bar. They reached that milestone while the world’s biggest soccer tournament was going on outside their door. Even though it was a mistake on the calendar, that timing wasn’t a mistake in spirit. Since its first World Cup watch parties in 2010, the Power & Light District has been getting ready for this kind of event. The screens, outdoor areas, and ways to handle crowds are all parts of the infrastructure that have been improved over the years.
At first, Kansas City thought that the tournament would bring in $653 million for the economy. At this point, no one knows if that number stays the same, goes up, or goes down slowly until the final numbers are in. It’s already clear that the bars that were designed for this kind of summer—the ones with screens, longer licenses, and staff who know how to keep a room full for hours—are the ones that are seeing it. A few blocks away, the restaurants are having a normal summer. That could be how it always is when you host a marquee event: the energy builds up and doesn’t spread out evenly.
K.C. has learned over the years, through Chiefs playoff runs, MLS seasons, and now this, that sports bars are more than just places to watch games. In times like these, they’re what hold the city’s public life together. Someone still needs to clean the bar when the crowd noise stops around 4 a.m. and the lights come on.
