Construction underway at GEHA Field at Arrowhead ahead of World Cup 2026

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – World Cup 2026 is more than two years away, but work is already underway to make sure Kansas City is prepared for the massive worldwide soccer event.

Kansas City is one of 10 cities across North America that will serve as host sites, with matches played locally at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

Modifications related to the World Cup are already underway at the stadium. A lot of planning is needed because of the Chiefs games, concerts, and other events scheduled to take place at the stadium between now and the World Cup in 2026.

According to a team spokesperson, crews removed seats in a section of the lower level stands. They are building a room underneath that section that will house controls for the subsurface aeration and moisture removal system. FIFA requires the system for all playing surfaces for World Cup matches.

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A team spokesperson said the seats will be reinstalled before preseason football starts, so fans don’t need to be concerned about any of the work that is happening for the World Cup during this offseason.

The Chiefs said the majority of the modifications for World Cup 2026 at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium will happen during the offseason next year, but will not impact the 2025 NFL season.

The modifications are some of the $50 million worth of improvements that will be made to Arrowhead Stadium ahead of the World Cup. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas announced the price tag for the modifications in June 2022. In the same tweet thread, Lucas said additional costs would be needed for “increased transit between the stadiums and population centers in the city and the airport.”

Members of the Kansas City Council also included $5 million in the 2024-25 budget to cover World Cup expenses.

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Last month, City Councilman Wes Rogers said the city needs to invest in itself before 2026 arriv3es.

“So we need to make sure that people can get from place to place, we need to make sure that it is efficient, we need to make sure that is safe, we need to make sure that it is clean, we need to make sure we have enough hotel beds, there is a lot that is going to go into making sure that people walk away from Kansas City as impressed as we are with our own city,” Wes Rogers, Kansas City Councilman, said.

World Cup 2026 is scheduled to begin Thursday, June 11, 2026. Kansas City’s first match is scheduled to take place Tuesday, June 16, 2026, according to FIFA.com.

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