If you wanna host soccer — World Cup soccer, no less — in a football stadium, you're gonna need a bigger field, and you're likely gonna need to alter your seating configuration significantly.
As reported by The Associated Press, officials representing MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., plan to remove 1,740 seats to widen the field in the hope of hosting the 2026 World Cup final. The stadium, which seats 82,500 fans for home games of the New York Giants and Jets, is among the contenders for the final of the expanded 48-nation, 104-game World Cup on July 19, 2026. AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys, is also in contention
"I speak on behalf of New Jersey but also as our partner of New York City, do not underestimate how aggressive we're prepared to be to get the best package of games possible," New Jersey governor Phil Murphy said during a telephone interview last fall, as reported by .
FIFA has not set a date for announcing the sites of specific games and could not provide details on renovations at other stadiums, spokesman Lenny Santiago said. For the 1994 tournament, FIFA announced sites of specific games in June 1992, awarding the final to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
Unlike the 1994 World Cup, FIFA is running the 2026 tournament itself without a local organizing committee.
"The few stadiums that require capital projects are handling each project differently — with some venues scheduling the work across multiple NFL off-seasons, while others plan to complete everything at once sometime between now and spring 2026," FIFA said in a statement.
The highest attendance for sports at MetLife, which opened in 2010, was 83,367 for a game in which the Jets and Giants met head-to-head in October. The World Cup bid book estimated a capacity of 74,895, according to the AP's Ronald Blum.
Soccer matches are typically played within boundaries that measures between 70 and 80 yards wide by between 110 and 120 yards long, compared to the 53-by-120-yard dimension of an NFL field. These figures don't include the requisite space outside the playing surface.
FIFA requires a 75-by-115-yard field for World Cup games, although that requirement was ignored by some venues during the 1994 tournament. Both MetLife and AT&T will have to replace artificial turf with grass, along with stadiums in Atlanta; Foxboro, Massachusetts; Houston; Inglewood, California; Philadelphia; and Seattle.All 11 U.S. stadiums for the World Cup are the homes of NFL teams.
Spokesperson Helen Strus said construction at MetLife will be in the corner and extend along the sidelines, though field-level club areas will not be impacted. The removed seats will be in the corners and will be replaced with seats in removable sections after the World Cup. Murphy said who pays the cost of the construction was under negotiation.
"The FIFA setback provisions really impact MetLife only at the corners. Other stadiums have a much tougher nut where they have to set the entire perimeter back," Murphy said. "FIFA wants a deal that works for them. New Jersey and New York City -- remember our partners New York City -- we're prepared clearly to put serious skin in the game. In fact, we have already."
MetLife's narrower field was used for the 2016 Copa América final, and will be used for three matches at this summer's South American championship. Murphy also hopes UEFA will stage a European Champions League final at MetLife.
"We would be able to sell 10 stadiums worth of tickets for the UEFA Champions League final," he said, according to Blum's report. "We would welcome the opportunity, and I've said many times I welcome the opportunity to host what we would call in the States regular-season league games for any of the big European leagues at MetLife, as well."
“I think we’ll do the right thing by the VIPs who need to get transited,” Murphy said. “We’ll do it in a way which doesn’t take it out of the hide of the regular customers, but we’ll also do it in a way — we’re committed that to FIFA, that we’ll move folks expeditiously and with the right level of care.”
