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What makes a soccer field's grass worthy of hosting a World Cup match? The event's governing body, FIFA, sets standards for that. As the U.S., Mexico and Canada prepare to host the 2026 World Cup, researchers and college students here in Michigan are working to make sure the grass at each stadium is pitch perfect. Sophia Saliby of member station WKAR reports.
SOPHIA SALIBY, BYLINE: It was 30 years ago - 1994 - when the World Cup tournament was first played on U.S. soil.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR: This is the Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich. - 77,577 on hand to see the United States take on Switzerland.
SALIBY: The Pontiac Silverdome was one of nine venues. It was the first time a World Cup game was played indoors. Michigan State University researchers grew and brought in grass specifically for the stadium. John Sorochan was an undergrad at the time and helped with the history-making project.
JOHN SOROCHAN: We were mowing back and forth. I had to keep stopping to hand clippings of the grass to the fans.
SALIBY: And Trey Rogers, an MSU professor of turfgrass management, says the whole experience of developing a way to keep that grass alive made him wonder what else could be done.
TREY ROGERS: I've been thinking about this for 30 years, but we didn't have anybody with the funding to push it forward.
SALIBY: Now, with dollars from FIFA, there's work underway to make sure the grass is just right for the 48 soccer teams playing in the 2026 World Cup.
ALAN FERGUSON: The pitch is everything.
SALIBY: Alan Ferguson says the pitch - or the soccer field - is everything. He's the head of pitches for FIFA.
FERGUSON: It's the stage on which the players perform, and we're the guys that give them that stage.
SALIBY: Those guys are Ferguson, Professor Rogers and that former undergrad, John Sorochan, who's now a turfgrass scientist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They, along with their teams, are studying how to manage 16 pitches in several different climates to make sure athletes don't have to worry about the ground underneath them.
SOROCHAN: They don't want to be thinking about the footing and slipping, or how it's going to be different from one stadium to the next, if they're playing a game.
SALIBY: So for the past three years, the scientists have been conducting experiments, like this one being led by MSU researcher Ryan Bearss.
SALIBY: Bearss and a group of students are packing different levels of sand between asphalt and a layer of turfgrass.
RYAN BEARSS: This is nonstabilized ball rebound over field turf, 5 inches sand infill.
SALIBY: They drop a soccer ball on the grass and then measure the sound of its bounce.
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SALIBY: It's all about determining if the ball meets tournament regulations. On first bounce, it has to reach a height of 60 to 100 centimeters. It is detailed measuring that can also be used in the future to better understand ways to use stadiums not built specifically for soccer games. And Professor Rogers says the students will be making a mark - just like he did 30 years ago, when he helped develop the grass for the World Cup games at the Pontiac Silverdome.
ROGERS: I think all of them will remember this for the rest of their lives. I know that '94 burns in my mind even - every day.
SALIBY: The first big test of this latest turf project will be when FIFA holds a tournament for club soccer in the United States next year. Then the turf will be grown for the prestigious 2026 World Cup.
For NPR News, I'm Sophia Saliby in East Lansing.
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