Meet the local mastermind responsible for AT&T Stadium’s 2026 World Cup transformation

Two years from now, on June 11, 2026, the next FIFA Men’s World Cup will kick off,

Mexico, the United States and Canada — the joint hosts — will be in the spotlight. But even if most fans don’t realize, it will also be on Tom Jones, a local mastermind responsible for the literal playing field.

Jones, no relation to the British showman, is part of an interdisciplinary team of professionals responsible for converting the AT&T Stadium cement slab into a smooth and beautiful natural grass field for the World Cup.

The home of the Cowboys will host nine matches in the World Cup, more than any other venue in the tournament. Before the stadium was awarded the matches, FIFA representatives expressed reservations about the state of the pitch. FIFA now requires all World Cup matches to be played on natural grass.

Jones certainly has the credentials to fulfill the mission with more than 30 years of experience and a great passion for lawn care, and he relishes the opportunity.

“It’s a big challenge,” said Jones, 57.

Jones used to oversee the grounds crew at the Rangers ballpark. Currently, he is the VP of the Complex at Toyota Stadium, supervising 18 fields, including the main stadium pitch where FC Dallas plays its games.

Recently, Jones attended the FIFA grounds/pitch workshop to update himself on the process of producing the best grass mixtures that will be installed in the 16 venues selected to host the 104 World Cup matches.

The 2026 World Cup will mark a before and after in terms of technology to develop natural grass surfaces.

The international soccer’s governing body allocated five million dollars to research, develop and produce playing surfaces for the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

During the bid process to host the World Cup, one of FIFA’s big questions was whether the U.S. could develop new technologies to grow natural grass in indoor stadiums or venues that use turf, as AT&T Stadium does.

Maintaining natural grass for over a month at AT&T Stadium will be one of the biggest challenges.

FIFA appointed John Sorochan, a turfgrass science and management professor at the University of Tennessee, and turfgrass research professor John Trey Rogers, from Michigan State University, as the project’s lead investigators.

“There’s nothing like this has ever been done before. So I always tell my staff that this is similar to NASA when you had the moon missions and all the technology that evolved out of that process,” Jones said.

‘Talk to the grass’

Jones always maintained a unique passion for lawn care, but when he was a young student, there were no careers in field management.

While studying psychology, Jones pursued his passion and, in 1988, got a part-time job that paid him $25 a game to care for the grass at the Rangers’ first stadium in Arlington.

Jones transitioned with the Rangers to what is now known as Choctaw Stadium, where he experienced how an arid and cobbled terrain was transformed into a beautiful baseball field. His hard work and the knowledge he acquired led him to become chief crew.

Since July 2004, Jones has been in charge of the complex at Toyota Stadium.

“I have a four-year degree in counseling psychology. That’s why I say I know how to talk to grass,” Jones said with a laugh.

Dan Hunt, the owner of FC Dallas and president of the local organizing committee for the 2026 World Cup, said in an interview for The Dallas Morning News that the reconfiguration of AT&T Stadium’s pitch would be the most significant expense the local committee will have to bear to host the tournament.

Raising the playing surface is the only way to expand the field at the Cowboys venue.

“We are looking at the pitch conversion and how that conversion is going to be done to make it a natural grass surface that will survive the duration of the tournament, which is a huge challenge,” said Heimo Schirgi, FIFA’s chief operating officer at a visit he made to AT&T Stadium in October.

Installing natural grass for the World Cup would go far beyond what is currently being done at AT&T Stadium to host soccer games.

When soccer games are played at AT&T Stadium, the protocol calls for laying thick-cut sod pads and sewing them together to cover the cement slab that serves as the field for the Dallas Cowboys games.

Players and coaches have criticized the conditions of the playing surface for soccer games at AT&T Stadium.

The alternative pitch has caused some injuries to players because the seams of the grass are often exposed and the players’ shoes get hooked on them.

“Shearing is not good in soccer,” said Jones. You want a solid footing hit, you want to plant that foot to kick the ball. The grass needs to stay where it’s at.”

For the World Cup, columns will be installed to support and elevate the surface of AT&T Stadium, and a system of different layers will be put on top of it. Soil, sand, and a root system will be planted to grow grass.

Jones explained that research is being conducted to determine what grass mixture will be used at AT&T Stadium during the World Cup.

Jones said the investigation’s findings into the surfaces used in AT&T Stadium and indoor stadiums for the World Cup will probably be announced next year.

Cutting-edge technology

When the 1994 World Cup was held in the United States, Pontiac Silverdome’s field in Detroit had to be transformed from turf to natural grass.

That was the first time something like this had been done, and on that occasion, professors Sorochan and Rogers came up with the technology to do it.

Thirty years later, the same two professors are leading the project for 2026, which involves creating controlled-environment indoor greenhouses to simulate the growing of diverse grass varieties.

The research process consists of having test plots, each one with its own set of grow lights that control the environment, temperature and lighting to learn how the crops react to different circumstances.

“They can simulate the environment at AT&T Stadium, what they’re doing is writing the standards that all pitches must meet,” Jones said.

Under FIFA regulations, all fields must now be hybrids, where artificial fibers are woven into the grass to create a sturdier surface.

Jones said the plan is that all 16 fields in the 2026 World Cup will look and feel almost identical, regardless of whether they are rooftop or open-sky stadiums.

Achieving this will be a monumental task since it will be the first time in World Cup history that three countries with completely unrelated soil and weather conditions host the tournament.

Researchers aim to ensure that field conditions are almost the same regardless of whether a team plays one day in one country and trains the next day in another.

“All pitches would be nice and smooth,” said Jones, who, in two years, hopes to perform the best show of his life.

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