Players across the NFL want to play only on grass.
Jets owner Woody Johnson and Giants co-owner John Mara hear the cries for grass at MetLife. And those cries are growing even louder, now that the East Rutherford stadium will host the 2026 World Cup final. (Almost all high-level soccer matches across the world are played on grass.)
Johnson said he and Mara have spoken extensively about perhaps installing grass at MetLife.
“We discuss it at least once a week,” Johnson told reporters Thursday before the NFL Honors award show in Las Vegas, leading up to Sunday’s Super Bowl.
But Johnson added that grass could be a challenge, because the stadium hosts so many events — and because two NFL teams share the open-air venue until at least late December or early January, when the regular season ends. And everyone knows what New Jersey’s weather can be like then.
This week’s news that MetLife will host the 2026 World Cup final put a brighter spotlight on the fact that the Jets and Giants play on what NFL players widely regard as an inferior surface — artificial turf. Technically, the surface installed before the 2023 NFL season is called FieldTurf Core HD.
All venues for the 2026 World Cup will have grass, as usual. MetLife will host five group stage matches — on June 13, 16, 22, 25, and 27. There will be a Round of 32 match at the stadium on June 30 and a Round of 16 match on July 5. The stadium’s next match after that is the July 19 final.
