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ARLINGTON, Texas — The United States men’s national team (USMNT) started their Copa America tournament with a solid 2-0 win over Bolivia, the lowest ranked team in the tournament.
A legitimate argument could be made that the Americans could have won by a wider margin given the missed opportunities on the doorstep, but another win in Arlington went to the venue itself.
There has been a lot of ruckus lately about the quality of the fields in US-based stadiums for soccer matches, mainly being put under a microscope because of the impending World Cup. In the opening match of Copa America 2024, Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez criticized the field for their match against Canada at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
AT&T Stadium also caught some flack in March when the USMNT played in the Concacaf Nations League. Head coach Gregg Berhalter, at the time, called the field “less than ideal.”
This time around, however, it seems AT&T Stadium crews got it right. They took the time to install a much better pitch to play on.
“It was world’s apart of a difference — the pitch at Nations League and the pitch that we played on tonight. A lot better conditions and obviously you can see you can play better quality football. Balls aren’t popping up all over the place. They did a good job,” said USMNT midfielder Weston McKennie, who is a native of Little Elm, a Dallas suburb.
AT&T Stadium crews have been installing this new pitch since the end of May.
It all started with taking out the artificial turf and putting down 10-plus inches of top soil on the concrete. Then, Kentucky bluegrass brought in from a sod farm in Colorado was laid two weeks prior to the tournament’s start. WFAA spoke with Peter Welpton of Dallas’ soccer show “The KickAround” on 96.7 FM The Ticket about the intricate process of laying the sod.
Lo and behold … they took the time to put in a proper pitch and it paid dividends.
“The pitch was definitely better now, 100%. I’m not one to complain about the pitch too much. You still have to play football at the end of the day. The game isn’t going to stop because of the pitch. But this pitch was 100% better,” USMNT midfielder Tyler Adams told WFAA after the match.
Such positive feedback will be welcoming for AT&T Stadium officials, as it provides them a blueprint to repeat when it comes time to install the pitch for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. A major difference between the pitch used in USMNT’s Copa America opener and the one that’ll be installed in 2026 is that the field will be elevated to fit FIFA’s required dimensions.
Unlike the soccer pitches used for CONCACAF Nations League and Copa America, the field for the FIFA World Cup will look much different.
In order to comply with FIFA’s field regulations for the World Cup, the playing surface at AT&T Stadium will be raised from where it currently stands. Doing so will accommodate the wider field dimensions required by FIFA — and take some seating areas out of commission.
In 2022, AT&T Stadium officials gave FIFA an example at how high the field would be raised, compared to its current state:
The actual pitch for the World Cup, according to Welpton, won’t be as high as the photo above shows, but the principle remains the same.
Welpton told WFAA his understanding is that the railings for those field-side suites would be removed, the suites would be tarped over, and then top soil and grass would be placed over that to raise and widen the playing surface.
FIFA has more stringent regulations for the World Cup when it comes to the playing field dimensions.
Those regulations call for field dimensions of about 105 meters long (115 yards) and 68 meters across. The 68 meters across equates to about 75 yards; by comparison, a football field is 50 yards across. While there’s obviously space on each side of an NFL field for sidelines, AT&T Stadium — with its seats and suites close to the field — doesn’t have much wasted space.
The raising of the field and re-orienting of the seats will be part of $295 million in renovations that began at AT&T Stadium in January. Other planned updates as part of those renovations include freshening up the premium clubs and suites, and installing new millwork and finishes, the Sports Business Journal reported.
While the SBJ said the renovations were expected to start in January, the upgrades aren’t expected to be completed until July 2025.
In the meantime, the USMNT will play their next Copa America match against Panama in Atlanta, where the pitch had not been as prioritized.
The Atlanta field only had three days to settle instead of the nearly two-week timeframe Jerry World got because Atlanta United plays its matches in Mercedes-Benz Stadium on the turf. The grass field for Copa America was installed on top of the artificial turf field immediately after their June 15 MLS match versus the Houston Dynamo.
In 2026 for the World Cup, AT&T Stadium in Arlington will host a semi-final match, a round of 16 match, two round of 32 matches and five group stage matches, bringing its total to nine matches – the most of any site in the tournament.
And for those wondering … no, the grass field is not staying in place. Once the last Copa America match is played at Jerry World, the July 5 quarterfinal, back comes the Cowboys’ artificial turf.
More Copa America coverage:
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