Why Jerry Jones and Dallas Cowboys won’t keep World Cup changes at AT&T Stadium
The Dallas Cowboys players, and coaches, all love the changes recently made to AT&T Stadium, and come August, the name will go back to its original, the grass will be replaced by a synthetic, and expect the tint in the windows to be removed, too.
The changes made to AT&T Stadium to accommodate FIFA for its precious World Cup are obvious, expensive and ultimately nearly all temporary.
Through the first week of the tournament, the global response to “Dallas Stadium” in Arlington is the equivalent of the highest ratings on Yelp, Uber or Airbnb. From its size, scale and cleanliness down to the real pitch itself, nearly all newcomers have come away impressed with the home of the Dallas Cowboys.
“It’s lovely,” England forward Morgan Rogers said on Wednesday, after his side defeated Croatia 4-2 before a packed house in a match that equaled the first World Cup game played here between Japan and the Netherlands.
It’s lovely.
Not sure those words have ever been used before to describe a major sports facility in the United States, but change is good.
The English could have, and should have, won this match by a wider margin, but no complaining. This was another brilliant day at the theater played on a pristine surface that has a life expectancy of another month or so.
The overwhelming reaction to the changes made for the World Cup to AT&T Stadium is to ask, “Why not just keep them after the tournament is over?”
There is an explanation.
Dallas Stadium’s long-term grass future
Once engineers figured out that drainage was a major problem in sustaining quality grass indoors, putting down a playing surface for a football, futbol or a soccer game wasn’t that hard.
It is, however, expensive, laborious, and, in this case, not feasible beyond short periods of time. Grass inside AT&T Stadium could, theoretically, be put down for an NFL season.
That is not the issue.
The issue is AT&T Stadium was built to be a multi-purpose venue that can host a football game, a concert and the world’s largest yoga class all in one 10-day period. That decision was made 20 years ago when the stadium was designed.
The team could have made real grass a priority in the planning stage, and installed either a “tray” system or multi-tiered levels that could be covered to allow for different surfaces.
The Cowboys are like most NFL teams that roll out a synthetic surface that has a grass feel, and is vastly superior to the old knee-ruining ways of AstroTurf. It’s also not grass.
Ask any player who plays soccer, baseball or football, and they all will tell you that real grass is king. It’s softer, and their cleats aren’t as susceptible to sticking in the field.
When FIFA was going through its bid process to award World Cup matches to certain venues, selected stadiums had to have real grass. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones spent millions and millions to make real grass a reality at AT&T Stadium, but it was never a long-term possibility.
This is always been a one-off.
And that probably includes the windows, too.
The Dallas Cowboys love the glare
Every fan of the Cowboys is all too familiar with the late afternoon sun blaring through the windows on the west side of AT&T Stadium that creates hell for pass catchers. It’s blinding, and preventable.
AT&T Stadium has used large curtains for certain events in the past, but never for a Cowboys game.
For this World Cup, the early reports said that a curtain would be used to make sure there would be no late-afternoon sun issues. The Cowboys went with a more aesthetically pleasing tint on the windows, which does have a dramatic effect on the natural sun inside the stadium.
There is no glare. No sun. No shadow.
Do not expect the Cowboys to keep it tinted.
Jerry has made it no secret he likes the feature to the stadium that is a few times a year a complaint among fans, and members of the media. Both teams have to deal with it, and it’s a point of conversation, which Jerry loves.
The late-afternoon blinding sun another is another feature to the stadium that makes AT&T Stadium unique in the NFL.
It would be lovely to think that some of the World Cup-modifications made to Dallas Stadium are permanent, but, much like the name of the venue itself, this is all quite temporary.
This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 7:05 PM.
