AT&T Stadium is one of the greatest sports venues in the world, making it a logical choice as a finalist to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup final.
If there’s been one notable critique, though, it’s the field itself.
Over the years, the field conditions for soccer matches at the home of the Cowboys have been marked by criticism from players and coaches. That should change in the 2026 World Cup.
FIFA will announce the site of the 2026 World Cup Final at 2 p.m. Sunday, and Arlington’s AT&T Stadium is a front-runner. MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and SoFi Stadium, just outside Los Angeles, are also among the favorites to host the title match.
Dallas-Fort Worth’s geographic location at the center of the country paired with the state-of-the-art facilities make it an accessible and appealing site for the final. Heimo Schirgi, FIFA’s chief operating officer, said in the fall that the field issue is a concern during his visit to AT&T Stadium.
“We are looking at the pitch conversion and how that conversion is going to be done to make it a natural grass surface that will survive the duration of the tournament, which is a huge challenge,” Schirgi said.
Since the stadium opened in 2009, when a soccer match is played at AT&T Stadium, the procedure is to lay out a mat of natural grass installed on the concrete slab that makes up AT&T Stadium’s floor.
This alternative pitch has caused injuries to players because the seams of the grass are often exposed and the players’ cleats get hooked on them.
The Cowboys are already working on implementing a much more complex and expensive system that will allow them to plant natural grass for the 2026 World Cup games.
“We have obviously used grass surfaces in the stadium before, but this will be a totally different process for the World Cup,” said Chad Estis, Cowboys executive vice president of business operations. “We’re investing a lot more resources and a lot more time on it.”
Estis said the Cowboys and FIFA are working together to have the best field possible.
“For the first time ever, we will have a system to grow the grass during the time period of the event, and that is very different from how we did it when we had other events,” Estis said.
“We have a whole team working alongside FIFA. We are confident that we will have a very good field for the World Cup.”
Too many injuries
The list of injuries recorded at AT&T is long, especially among players from the Mexican national team, which plays at the venue at least once a year.
The most notorious soccer injury suffered at AT&T Stadium was the tibia and fibula injury suffered by forward Luis “Chapo” Montes as he collided with Ecuadorian midfielder Segundo Castillo in May 2014. The mutually inflicted impact left both of them sidelined from the World Cup in Brazil that year.
Mexico’s defender Néstor Araujo injured his right knee in the 1-0 defeat to Croatia in Arlington in March 2018. Araujo missed the World Cup in Russia.
During the same match, Diego Reyes substituted him for a few minutes before he left the field as he gave in to a preexisting right knee injury. He didn’t play in Russia either.
Also, Mexican defender Carlos Salcedo injured his right shoulder still in the same game, but he recovered in time for the World Cup.
Argentina faced Mexico on Sept. 8, 2015, in Arlington. There were loose turf snippets on the field. At one point, Lionel Messi, Argentina’s star, stuck a foot in one of those gaps during a play, unnerving the coaching staff. Nobody was injured in the game.
Big expense
Before AT&T Stadium can host any match of the upcoming World Cup, improvements to the pitch are needed.
The field surface will be raised 4 to 6 feet to expand the width and comply with the official measurements established by FIFA.
An NFL field is 53 yards wide. Typically, a soccer field has to be 74 to 76 yards wide.
Raising the playing surface is the only way to expand the field, said Dan Hunt, chairman of Dallas’ host city bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Hunt said the reconfiguration of AT&T Stadium’s pitch will be the most significant expense the local committee will have to bear to host the tournament, which, for the first time in its history, will be played by 48 countries.
Hunt didn’t provide an exact cost.
“The investment will be well in the millions. We will know the exact amount once we determine how many feet we will have to elevate the field,” said Hunt, who is also FC Dallas president.
Elevating the field to meet FIFA specifications is a complicated process that will also require AT&T Stadium to remove about 3,000 seats once the reconfiguration is complete.
“Columns will have to be installed to support and elevate the surface,” Hunt said, “and a system of different layers will be put on top of the surface where soil, sand and a root system will be put in to grow grass.”
Hunt said the money to fund the pitch reconfiguration at AT&T Stadium would come from the Texas Trust Fund, a financial mechanism that encourages hosting big events in the state.
“As I understand it, once the 2025 NFL season is over, they will start the process of getting AT&T Stadium [the field] ready to host matches. Installing the platform to raise the field will take time,” Hunt said.
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