Overview
- MetLife Stadium, which will host eight matches including the July 19 final, began laying roughly 600 rolls of North Carolina‑grown bermudagrass on Thursday in a two‑day push overseen by FIFA’s pitch team.
- The new MetLife surface sits on deep sand with a permeable layer called Permavoid, a vacuum ventilation and irrigation system, and will be stitched to create a single seamless field.
- Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field finished its installation using New Jersey‑grown sod from Tuckahoe Turf Farms, with six matches scheduled from June 14 to July 4.
- Houston’s NRG Stadium will keep its roof closed to protect a cool‑season Kentucky bluegrass and rye mix shipped from Colorado, with grow lights and HVAC sustaining the grass for seven matches before the temporary field is removed.
- FIFA’s program pairs grass types to climate, using bermudagrass for warm venues and bluegrass‑rye for cool or indoor sites, with sod grown on plastic, moved by refrigerated trucks, and unrolled and stitched by specialized machines for uniform play.