How the 2026 World Cup Will Embarrass the United States
Less Than 500 Days: Is the USA's Transit Ready for the World?
Are we Ready?
When the average American compares U.S. infrastructure to that of other countries, the first thing that comes to mind is airports. It’s a fair critique. Many of our nation’s airports feel drab and uninspiring compared to the architectural grandeur of their East Asian or Gulf state counterparts. After all, airports serve as gateways to and from the outside world—first impressions matter.
But the real issue isn’t the airports themselves; it’s what happens after you’ve claimed your bag at baggage claim. At a typical U.S. airport, once those automatic doors slide open, you’re left navigating a car rental, a rideshare app, a taxi stand—or, if you’re like me, trying to figure out where the once-an-hour airport bus stops.
Take Las Vegas’s airport, which serves 57 million passengers annually, the majority of whom are heading just 2.5 miles to the Las Vegas Strip. The CX bus, which stops directly at Caesars Palace and other major Strip locations, runs once every 55 minutes and takes 30 minutes to get there—not including the walk to the resort, since there are no direct transit connections. If every bus were full, daily transit capacity would be just 1,440 people—a tiny fraction of the 150,000+ daily airport passengers.
In an ideal world, based on data, we’d see a subway departing every 10 minutes, directly connecting the Strip, downtown Vegas, and beyond. Instead, we have a transit system that barely makes a dent in demand.
Let’s take a transit inventory of all the sports venues of each US host city:
Let's compare this to Germany's Berlin Olympiastadion (capacity 74,745), a 2006 World Cup venue with minimal parking compared to U.S. venues. Within walking distance, it's served by an S-Bahn station capable of moving 40,000 people per hour and a U-Bahn station running trains every other minute, each carrying an estimated 250 riders.
The entire stadium can empty via transit in 90-120 minutes. Compare this to Gillette Stadium, where concertgoers routinely sit in parking lots for three hours post-event.
Olympiastadion has just 630 parking spaces yet efficiently serves its audience, while Gillette maintains 23,200 spaces despite holding 10,000 fewer people.
Requirements
So what does a FIFA World Cup require of a host city? A lot actually, but let's focus on transportation specifically.
Transportation: FIFA requires each stadium to have a nearby airport with a minimum capacity of 1,450 passengers per hour. Let's examine if current transit service from each principal airport to their respective downtown meets these requirements.
It is estimated that over 6 million people will visit sixteen U.S. cities over the course of a month, making the need for strong transit infrastructure more than justified.
Enter Kansas City
Let’s take Kansas City—the least prepared of all the host cities, in my opinion. While the new $1.5 billion airport terminal is absolutely stunning and a much-needed upgrade for a metro that sorely lacked adequate air infrastructure, it is currently served by a bus that runs just once an hour.
Fans traveling from Europe will likely take a bus, metro, or train to their home airport, then land in a U.S. host city where, like in Kansas City, the expectation is for tens of thousands of visitors to… rent a car?
According to the host committee, transportation is the biggest issue facing Kansas City’s ability to host the games—and for good reason. There are three key locations that FIFA requires efficient and direct transit between: KCI Airport, Downtown, and Arrowhead Stadium. The current transit system moves just 80 people per hour in each direction between these locations, while Arrowhead Stadium’s capacity is 76,000. The Kansas City streetcar line—the metro’s only rail transit—will more than double in length before the games arrive, but it still won’t provide enough capacity or reach key destinations.
On top of the transit limitations, Arrowhead Stadium is located in one of the most car-dependent and least walkable areas of any major sports venue in the country. NFL surveys consistently rank the Chiefs in the bottom quartile for transit accessibility. At major concert events, 4,000 rideshare trips are recorded, with nearly 25% of attendees arriving via Uber or Lyft. Simply put, the current transit and transportation infrastructure is nowhere near ready to support the six World Cup matches that will take place over a month.
Over that period, Kansas City is expected to host 650,000 visitors, each staying for an average of nine days. Our cities are unprepared for this moment, and FIFA fans will notice. Both Kansas and Missouri plan to spend tens of millions in preparation, but securing the 200+ buses needed for the event remains uncertain. Meanwhile, no new fixed-route transit expansions are in the works.
To be continued
By the end of March, each host committee must outline how they plan to move hundreds of thousands of fans in each city for FIFA. Based on their responses, I will break down what’s planned for each location and, in some cases, how they intend to pull off the impossible (part 2 of this).
But beyond the need to move people for this event, it raises an important question: aren’t we embarrassed? Of course, major events require supplemental transit solutions, but building a beautiful airport without any transit investment fails to meet our ideals as a nation.
Cities like Bordeaux, which is half the size of Kansas City, operate 400 buses and 130 trams. Arlington, Texas (population 398,000)—where the "Dallas" matches will be held—is the largest city in North America without fixed-route transit. Meanwhile, Zürich, a city of similar size, has 18 tram lines, hundreds of buses, and high-speed regional and intercity rail connections.
Even if you never ride transit, shouldn’t a modern airport with strong transit connections be something we expect as a developed nation? For decades, the United States has been seen as a beacon of prosperity, yet our elected officials have allowed transit and infrastructure to decline—leaving us unprepared when the world is watching.
Instead of showcasing fast metros and high-speed rail to the millions visiting that “shining city on a hill,” this country plans to roll out the red carpet with… Hertz.
See you in part 2.