In anticipation of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the City of Parkville is temporarily changing its restrictions and requirements for short-term vacation rentals in the city.
At the Tuesday, May 20 meeting of the Board of Aldermen, Director of Community Development Stephen Lachky presented the amended sections of code. The changes were unanimously approved by the board.
According to a staff report, between June 11 and July 19, 2026, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) will
be hosting the 2026 World Cup — an international association football competition among the senior men’s national teams of the members of FIFA — throughout North America, including matches held in Kansas City. The tournament has been held every four years since its inaugural tournament in 1930 and is globally regarded as the most prestigious association football competition. It’s also the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world, with viewership of the most recent 2022 World Cup estimated to be 5 billion people, which is more than half of the global population.
GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City will host six matches during the World Cup timeframe, with its first match occurring on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, and its last match taking place on Saturday, July 11, 2026. Additionally, three locations have been identified as being used as base camp locations for teams to train and practice, and their fans to congregate — Children’s Mercy Park (Kansas City, Kan.), CPKC Stadium (Kansas City), and Rock Chalk Park (Lawrence, Kan.). Each of these cities expects an influx of visitors as players, coaches, staff, fans, media, and foreign dignitaries will be following their respective teams around. FIFA has advised that base camp teams may arrive as early as two weeks prior to match play beginning on June 11, 2026, and Visit KC anticipates fans, media, sponsors and other visitors arriving in the prior weeks.
An estimated 6.8 million tourists visited host cities during the 2022 World Cup. Overall, organizers believe the 2026 World Cup will have a $600 million impact on the Kansas City region, with area communities seeing an economic boost via the global exposure they wouldn’t normally experience.
Due to this influx of World Cup tourists, property owners are working to create short-term housing for these people. In 2021, the city established its guidelines to allow rentals through such venues as AirBnB and VRBO.
These rules established no more than four vacation rental properties per city ward, limited rentals to one dwelling unit per property, required owners to occupy the property as their primary residence and required one dedicated parking space on-site.
To accommodate and properly lodge the anticipated influx of visitors to the Kansas City region throughout the 2026 World Cup, the Parkville Area Chamber & Economic Development Council (PACE), Platte County Economic Development Council (PCEDC), and other organizations have recommended that cities permit the use of short-term rentals if they haven’t already, according to the staff report.
It was also recommended that cities modify their existing regulations to be less restrictive to encourage more usage of short-term rentals before, throughout, and shortly after the tournament. Based on information provided by FIFA and Visit KC, the region could be expecting visitors as early as the beginning of May 2026. That said, city staff would recommend modifying short-term rental provisions to address short-term rentals operating between May 1-July 31, 2026.
The changes would lift limits on the number of short-term rentals in wards, lift limits on the number of dwelling units per property, and lift the requirement that the properties be owner-occupied. There are no changes to the parking space requirements or to other health and safety standards.
Short-term rentals will still need to adhere to all federal, state and local laws, including property owners having an active in-town business license through the City Clerk’s office, and property owners collecting a remitting a 5% tourism tax – guest room tax paid by transient guests of short-term rentals monthly.
Aldermen voiced concerns about the parking requirement, with only one space required per property.
“What if there are 10 people in a house and they bring 10 cars?” said Alderman Tina Welch. She pointed out the neighbors would not be pleased with the influx if vehicles on their street, and evicting the temporary tenants would be difficult when they may be coming from Sweden or England.
Mayor Dean Katerndahl was concerned about after the World Cup.
“How do we put the genie back in the bottle?” Katerndahl said.
While aldermen also were concerned about this, Lachky said the city would have record of all of the properties taking advantage of the World Cup and could keep an eye on online listings to catch those who may try to sneak in rentals after the period of leniency expires.
Depending on how things go next year, aldermen said this could be a template for other large events, such as if Kansas City were to host World Series games.