MetLife Stadium is being converted from turf to grass for the World Cup, and the change will be in place when the final is played there next month. That makes the New York New Jersey Stadium one of the most watched fields in the sport, even as it remains a familiar source of frustration for NFL players.
The urgency now is simple: the first World Cup matches in North America are about to be played, and the United States men’s national team will open at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on newly installed grass. FIFA required all 16 stadiums hosting World Cup matches across the U.S., Mexico and Canada to have mostly natural grass playing surfaces, and several American stadiums were converted from synthetic surfaces in time.
For New York Giants offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor, that switch lands squarely on a body that has spent a decade in the league. He said it was “a kind of sucky feeling” to learn some NFL stadiums would be changing from turf to grass, and added that in year 10 he can say “grass feels way better than turf.” He said his knees, ankles and lower back feel less sore after games on grass, and after a turf game in New Orleans last season he felt like “absolute crap.”
The numbers back up that view. In a union survey of more than 1,700 players, 92% said they preferred grass. Yet the NFL has left field-surface decisions to individual teams’ discretion, which is why the choice at places like MetLife has long been left to the home club rather than set by the league. That split helps explain why a surface change for the World Cup feels temporary to some players even as it arrives with heavy investment and global attention.
Nick Pappas said the NFL and the NFL Players Association have a set of criteria and standards tied to the collective bargaining agreement, and that no venue should be allowed to present a grass surface that does not meet that compliance. He said grass is not just about checking a box; the quality of the surface matters for the athlete. That leaves the larger question unresolved after the final next month: whether MetLife Stadium keeps grass once the World Cup is gone, or goes back to the same setup that has annoyed players for years.
