U.S. turf researchers and sod farmers deliver the goods for World Cup 2026

World Cup fields must meet 'FIFA’s exacting standards for ball roll, shock absorption, consistency, player safety and broadcast appearance.' (Graphic by Adam Dixon, Offrange)

While Americans may be feeling gloomy about many things, there's still plenty to be proud of and look forward to, including this summer when the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, aka FIFA, "will stage its largest-ever World Cup on North American soil," writes Donavyn Coffey for Offrange.

Among the 16 stadiums where 28 national teams will play, the U.S. gets to showcase its turf scientists and rarely sung sporting heroes—sod farmers. Coffey writes, "Since 2019, FIFA has invested more than $5 million in a partnership with turf scientists at Michigan State University and the University of Tennessee, tasking them to solve a foundational challenge of the tournament: the fields."

What's so great about American farm scientists and sod farmers? They make the turf beautiful, playable, absorption-capable, replaceable and removable. Coffey explains, "All this while remaining as uniform as possible across all 16 sites, indoors and outdoors, from desert heat to northern cold." Cool.

"FIFA’s investment was a windfall for an industry that typically sees far fewer funding opportunities than other branches of agriculture," Coffey adds. Trey Rogers, turf scientist at Michigan State University, told her, "The technology has always been there. . . .We were thrilled to get to put our theories to the test.”

American turf researchers quickly zeroed in on creating "curated resilient grass combinations, grow-light recipes to keep the grass healthy over the 45-day tournament, and a way to build a game-ready grass pitch in under 24 hours," Coffey explains. Their sod-on-plastic-turf has the potential to replace AstroTurf on American football fields and other sod blends blanketing U.S. golf courses.

Sod growers have sometimes faced opposition because opponents feel that using good farmland to grow grass for sporting events rather than food isn't a responsible use of the land. With sod-on-plastics, good farmland isn't needed. 

Rogers told Offrange, "I’ve always said this could be done in the parking lot of an abandoned mall.”