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ORLANDO – Giants President and CEO John Mara said a turf field will be installed at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey for the 2026 World Cup. However, it is a different type of grass than the one used for American football, where the New York Giants and Jets play at MetLife.
The venue was chosen to host world soccer’s prestigious finale, ahead of AT&T Stadium in Dallas and SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The final will be held on July 19, 2026.
Mara also said other changes are planned to the stadium for the World Cup.
“We’re talking about some pretty major renovations at some point, but those plans haven’t been finalized yet,” Mara told reporters at Monday’s league meeting. “To accommodate the field, they will have to remove some seating on the lower level, and we will have to install temporary seating.”
Mara said those seats will be used again during football season. Although the season officially begins in September, preseason games will be played in August.
The Giants are currently using a field turf core introduced last offseason. After Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers ruptured his Achilles tendon in the opening game of last season, MetLife Stadium became a hot spot, and there was a long debate about grass or turf. Although it’s always been debated, Mara said he’s not yet at the point where it’s safe to play on grass fields late in the season.
“We want to get to a point where experts say we’ll have safe and playable turf fields by the second half of the season,” Mara said. “Once we get to that point, we’ll probably make the switch. We’re not there yet.
“There are a lot of events going on in the building, especially during football season, and there are two teams there and considering how many back-to-back games they had last year and it rained on the first game, how much grass grows. I can’t even imagine what the field looked like on the second day. ”
MetLife plans to install turf at East Rutherford for this summer’s Copa America, where three games will be played. The venue will host two group stage matches in late June, including a rematch of the 2016 final between Argentina and Chile, and the semi-finals in early July. In December, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which oversees MetLife, approved $400,000 to host the Copa America. This was announced by a spokesperson for the agency. The Athletic All of the money will be used to convert the stadium’s field to grass.
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(Photo: Rob Tringali/Sportchrome/Getty Images)
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