"Boots, shinpads, socks, shorts – that's all you'd need. It's a nice, cheap sport to play," Hansen said.
Public viewings organized by municipal authorities at Riverside Park further driven downtown economic activity by broadcasting all 104 tournament matches.
City of Kamloops business operations and events supervisor Andrew Smeaton explained that the structured schedule allowed fans to plan ahead.
"It sets up a regular event so people can see it's worth it to go and purchase a jersey or make plans to watch the games at Riverside Park and then go have lunch or dinner at another business in town," said Smeaton.
Smeaton highlighted that the tournament's commercial benefits expanded well beyond the central downtown core.
"There's lots of businesses on the North Shore, in east Kamloops and downtown that are taking part in the excitement around the greatest tournament on earth," Smeaton said.
Other local hospitality venues observed a similar surge in crowd energy that rivaled major regional sports milestones from previous years.
Business representative Cross compared the current World Cup atmosphere to prior deep Major League Baseball postseason runs.
"The Blue Jays run last year was probably my personal favourite, that was a really fun sporting event," said Cross.
Cross noted that the community excitement remained consistently high inside the venue during match days.
"It was electric in here and yeah [it's the same] with the World Cup.
Some of the big games are on big days for us, but you notice it because people are cheering when things happen," Cross said.
While local fan support primarily aligned with the Canadian national team, businesses project steady attendance as elite international powerhouses advance further in the tournament leading up to the July 19 final.
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"As those big power houses – Spain, France, Argentina – get into big important games, I think we'll see some crowds come out for it, but yeah, the crowds definitely been favoured towards Canada so far," Cross said.
