Cowboys Stadium To Use Grass-Growing Tech for 2026 World Cup — But Not NFL Games Despite Turf Complaints

AT&T Stadium is a finalist to host the 2026 FIFA Word Cup Final. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is willing to go to great technological lengths to help its chances.

While the stadium is already slated to host multiple World Cup matches, it will have to remove its artificial Hellas Matrix Turf for the contests. FIFA World Cup matches are only played on grass. Artificial turf is said to increase the chance of injury for athletes who compete on the field, especially high-speed contact sports like football and soccer.

However, Cowboys executive V.P. of business operations Chad Estis says that the organization is planning to use new technology to grow grass in the stadium for the World Cup, according to The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

“For the first time ever, we will have a system to grow the grass during the time period of the event, and that is very different from how we did it when had other events,” Estis said. “We have a whole team working alongside FIFA. We are confident that we will have a very good field for the event.”

The organization will also have to invest in a series of artificial light systems to grow the grass, since the stadium is indoors.

“We’re still actually piecing together total cost,” Estis said.

However, there are no reported plans to switch out turf for grass for any of the Cowboys' home games.

Jones has previously justified the decision to use turf for his football team's games despite ongoing wishes by players for more grass fields in the NFL.

"Our league stats don't see issues with the type of surface that we have as opposed to natural grass," Jones said in November 2022 on 105.3 The Fan. "We don't see issues. No facts bear that out."

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott even said that the stadium's turf is what caused him to suffer a season-ending ankle injury in 2020.

“Yeah, I’m 100 percent a grass guy. My injury plays a huge part in that,” Prescott told reporters on Sept 15. “How physical this game is, the way guys are getting tackled, it’s a whole lot safer, in my opinion, on grass than turf."

The NFL Players Association released a statement on Sept. 13 calling for the league to remove all turf fields.

The union previously released a detailed study with data on injuries on turf compared to natural grass. Their findings say that players have a 28% higher rate of non-contact lower extremity injuries on artificial turf, including a 32% higher rate of non-contact knee injuries and a 69% higher rate of non-contact foot or ankle injuries compared to grass.