The FIFA World Cup transformation of MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, is well underway.
The name "MetLife Stadium" and all other signs for in-stadium sponsors have been stripped and replaced with FIFA World Cup 2026 and New York/New Jersey signage, but most significantly, the artificial turf used during New York Giants and New York Jets NFL games has now been replaced with natural grass.
It's specifically Bermuda grass which was grown at Carolina Green Turf Farms in North Carolina at the conclusion of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
"This field is sod on a plastic field," said David Graham, FIFA's Senior Pitch Manager. "It was grown in North Carolina and was an eight-to-10-month process to grow the grass — it is a Bermuda Tahoma 31 product. That was selected through the venue because of the climate and New York/New Jersey's weather conditions during the tournament."
FIFA has been "on project" in East Rutherford since the NFL season ended in February, but the pitch installation began on the evening of Wednesday, May 6, with 14 trucks on site bringing in about 600 rolls of the new Bermuda grass.
Video of what it currently looks like in New York/New Jersey Stadium. 🎥: Matthew Mangam
What if the pitch gets damaged?
The grass, which was placed on sand over the pre-existing turf, will follow hydration schedules before and during the tournament to prevent damage. It's unlikely the pitch will be watered during mid-game hydration breaks, but it could happen during halftime on sunny, hot summer days.
"We've got our processes in place where we've got vacuum ventilation, we're going to do the hyper-reinforcement this weekend," Graham said. "It's quite an extensive program. We'd like the weather to be a bit warmer so that the grass will grow, but it's a system that normally takes six-to-eight weeks, and then we repeat, repeat, repeat until the end of the tournament."
If parts of the grass have to be replaced, Graham said that FIFA has backup sod fields, but because of the vacuum ventilation system built into the pitch, which provides a "very strong root zone" to get "oxygen into the profile," those changes shouldn't be necessary.
Why Bermuda grass?
FIFA chose Bermuda grass for MetLife because, based on extensive research, the warm-season grass was best applicable to the New York/New Jersey area.
Kentucky bluegrass, oversown with ryegrass, is the other grass for the tournament that will be used in the cooler-temperature venues with a dome, like Mexico City, simply because of the climate and elevation.
"The two species in particular — we have got to the point where we have got the numbers right with the height of the grass to get the same playability from the two species," Graham said. "It comes down to the research."
The first World Cup match won't be played at MetLife until June 13, but by then, this pitch will already be in use longer than last year's Club World Cup pitch. That grass playing surface used last summer drew criticism from the likes of Borussia Dortmund manager Niko Kovač, who told New York Soccer Journal's Michael Battista that the grass was "very short," not the grass he was used to in Germany, and that it wasn't watered well enough and caused the ball to stick.
"This pitch will be in longer than the duration of last year's tournament before we kick a ball," FIFA pitch manager Graham said. "We didn't receive the venue until two weeks before a ball was kicked in the 2025 Club World Cup. Here, it's a completely different field and scenario."
