Jets and Giants to host World Cup Finals at MetLife Stadium in 2026
The Jets and Giants will be hosting a football Championship game at their home stadium in the next few years, it just won’t be the kind that Jets and Giants fan want to host. The 2026 men’s World Cup final will be staged at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey after FIFA, world football’s governing body, […]
The Jets and Giants will be hosting a football Championship game at their home stadium in the next few years, it just won’t be the kind that Jets and Giants fan want to host.
The 2026 men’s World Cup final will be staged at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey after FIFA, world football’s governing body, chose the venue over those in Dallas and Los Angeles.
FIFA held a meeting at the Park Lane Hotel in London in January in which the venue for the 2026 final was discussed, with council members meeting ahead of The Best awards that were held later that evening.
New Jersey’s governor Phil Murphy held talks with FIFA in September and had been confident that the MetLife Stadium would be chosen for the match.
The World Cup final will take place on July 19, 2026, and will conclude the first-ever 48-nation edition of the competition — an increase from the 32-team format that has been in place since 1998.
“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 Gov. Phil Murphy said during a telephone interview last fall.
Field is Still the Issue for American Football Players
MetLife Stadium will replace its turf with natural grass for the World Cup, and also remove 1,740 seats in order to widen the field.
The transition from the field turf currently at MetLife Stadium and the natural grass is one that most players would hope happens sooner rather than later. I wrote several times this season about how the turf at MetLife is viewed by players and is not very flattering.
This week, another name was added to the list of players who are unhappy with the MetLife playing surface, Jets cornerback Michael Carter II.
After a study seemed to indicate little or no difference between fake and natural grass fields, Carter said on Twitter:
"Need some of these people to go into MetLife and bounce off that turf for 3 hours and tell me how you feel after vs grass."
It’s clear the players want the switch from field turf to natural grass to happen sooner (and presumably, for the players who use it every week as opposed to those borrowing it for one game) rather than later.
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