Kansas City should be proud that the world wants to come here. That does not mean hosting the World Cup is good for business. Those are different claims, and we should stop treating them as the same thing.
The public argument has been simple: Visitors will come, hotels will fill, restaurants and bars will be busy and the region will get global exposure. KC2026 projects roughly 650,000 visitors and more than $653 million in direct economic impact.
That sounds impressive. It also sounds incomplete…