As is well known, football is not the most popular sport in the United States. In recent years, however, soccer — as it is called there — has grown exponentially. Still, it remains distant from the disciplines that define American sporting identity. Above all American football, which continues to be the country’s most followed and most loved sport.
It is also for this reason that, when it came to selecting the stadiums for World Cup matches, the United States turned to the vast, high-capacity, state-of-the-art NFL franchise venues. This choice, however, has brought with it a complex logistical challenge: adapting pitches and infrastructure to host football matches.
In the end, eleven NFL stadiums have had to transform their playing surfaces to make them suitable for football. But what were the main issues involved?
First of all, there is a difference in dimensions. While an American football field is almost 110 metres long and just under 49 metres wide, FIFA requires football pitches to be 105 metres long and 68 metres wide. The regulations also stipulate that World Cup matches must be played on natural grass, which is not a requirement in the NFL.
The stadium that has undergone the most extensive changes is the one in Atlanta, which will host matches — including Morocco and Spain — and one of the semi-finals. After careful assessment, a few months ago it was decided to completely remove the existing turf to make room for a new football pitch compliant with FIFA standards.
In Boston too, works have altered what is normally the home of the New England Patriots: in order to build the pitch, a deep excavation was required to remove the NFL surface and replace it with sand, porous ceramic and turf rolls.
At the Dallas Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys during the NFL season, a new system of irrigation, ventilation and lighting has been installed to maintain the grass in good condition, along with a raised pitch structure that has required the removal of an unspecified number of seats in the lower tier. Total cost of the renovation works: 250 million euros.
Further interventions on the playing surface have also been carried out in Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Kansas City, as well as in Los Angeles, whose stadium will open the World Cup on US soil with the match between the United States and Paraguay.
One stadium that has not required substantial modifications is the home of the Miami Dolphins. Its playing surface is larger than average, meaning no major interventions were necessary.
In Florida, several matches will be played involving major national teams — Brazil, Uruguay and Portugal — as well as the third-place play-off.
The final will instead take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey: a venue with more than 80,000 seats, home to the New York Jets and New York Giants, which will begin its World Cup schedule with one of the most anticipated group-stage matches, Brazil–Morocco. Here too, significant work has been carried out on the pitch, with 600 new rolls laid to form the natural grass surface.