The last time Atlanta and Mercedes-Benz Stadium hosted an international soccer tournament, the first and last optics from the opening Copa America match in 2024 weren’t great.
The day started with images being posted by journalists of grass that looked streaky and of their inability to obtain press credentials before the Argentina-Canada match. It ended with Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni and some players criticizing the grass and the bounciness of the grass surface put in for the event.
Neither issues were the city and stadium’s fault. CONMEBOL, the tournament organizers, decided the credentialing process and the grass installation. But both of those issues should be solved for the six Club World Cup matches the city and stadium will host over the next month, starting with Chelsea playing LAFC on June 16.
“It’s not an easy task,” said Adam Fullerton, vice president of stadium operations at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. “But we’ve got a lot of really good eyes and brains behind the grass operation, things we’re doing a little bit differently this year.”
The changes are numerous and start with the calendar. Instead of there being 48 hours between the final steps in the grass installation and the first match, which was the Copa America timeline, there will be six days.
“We’re going to have an opportunity to let it breathe a little bit,” Fullerton said.
The process of putting in the grass started with the turf being taken up Wednesday, leaving the asphalt base. An aluminum subfloor, slightly thicker than a baking sheet, was put down instead of the plastic subfloor that was used during Copa America.
Three inches of sand, outsourced from a quarry near Macon, was poured on top of the metal floor. The metal floor and sand were decided after FIFA’s team tested different options, and the system is unique to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
It has been a round-the-clock installation process, according to Nick Pappas, consultant on grass for AMB Sports Entertainment, which runs the stadium. AMBSE declined to say how much the install costs.
The grass, a hybrid of Kentucky blue and perennial rye, was grown in Colorado and put on refrigerated trucks for the 30-hour drive to Atlanta. It is being rolled out on top of the sand, with the completion expected by Tuesday.
The grass is specific for domed stadiums and was bred to handle regional climate, the wear and tear of play and a lifetime of around 60 days. The installation is being done by the turf farm, the stadium and FIFA. The grass was researched for the previous two years at Michigan State and Tennessee.
The grass has plastic fibers woven into it, done during the growth process in Colorado. The artificial fiber weaves are shorter than the natural grass and are used to add stability. Several stadiums in Europe, including Liverpool’s Anfield, use the hybrid systems.
Once the last of 740 rolls of grass — each is 4 feet wide an 36 feet long — are unrolled, water and grow lights will be used to keep the grass growing until the last match is played July 5. The grow lights will be used for six to 12 hours each day and rolled around the field to ensure full coverage.
Even if it rains, the roof of the stadium won’t be open. It will stay closed to ensure the color of the grass and the growth remains uniform.
There will be no trampoline effect, such as what happened during the Copa America match, FIFA pitch-venue manager Stuart Wilson said Monday. He said they are running tests on the firmness, traction and moisture, and the resulting numbers are excellent.
After the last match, the grass will be removed until the process starts anew — with some improvements — in February ahead of the eight World Cup matches the stadium will host beginning in June 2026. Those improvements include more irrigation, the removal of the asphalt flooring and the completion of a SubAir system (which aerates grass and removes extra moisture) whose installation around the perimeter of the field started in February 2024.
“Next year, for the 2026 tournament, much more extensive build-out than this year,” Pappas said.
In one of the quirks of hosting important events, even though Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be going back to turf, it bought a riding lawn mower to help maintain the grass for both tournaments.
As with the grass, the credentialing process, which dictates who is able to write stories of the matches for readers and subscribers, also should go more smoothly. CONMEBOL officials didn’t listen to feedback from stadium officials, who warned them the process they put into place was going to create inefficiencies and delays.
The delays started with one set of credentials having to be redone days before the event because of an error.
It continued with a wait of an hour just to get into the building. Once at the press box level of the stadium, dozens of journalists were held in a small waiting area to pick up the other set of credentials. The area became overheated because of the number of bodies snaking back and forth in a line.
They then had to wait to find out which postgame area (coaches or interview line, or neither) they had access to. The process took as long as two hours. It usually takes a few minutes.
FIFA officials in charge of this tournament are trusting the host sites to handle the on-site credentialing.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
