Michael Adkison/Houston Public Medi
The grass pitch at NRG Stadium, called Houston Stadium for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, on June 10, 2026.
When the final whistle blew at NRG Stadium on Saturday afternoon, it marked more than just the end of a round-of-16 match between Morocco and Canada. It also capped the end of Houston’s portion of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
A total of seven World Cup matches were played at NRG Stadium, which has been called Houston Stadium for the international soccer tournament. Now, the Houston World Cup host committee is shifting essentially the entirety of its focus on the FIFA Fan Festival in East Downtown.
“We’re going to … be working with FIFA on the coordinated effort of loading out of the stadium, but yeah, we’ll just continue to run the Fan Festival as a main priority,” Chris Canetti, president of the host committee, told Houston Public Media in an interview.
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Michael Adkison/Houston Public Media
Thousands of fans stand in hot conditions as they await entrance at the FIFA Fan Festival in Houston’s East Downtown on June 11, 2026.
Fan fest will be in operation for the remainder of the World Cup, showing every match. The festival will close its doors after the final match on July 19.
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Now, FIFA will begin the process of tearing down its equipment, signage, and infrastructure for the World Cup. FIFA holds an exclusive use period of the stadium that runs through July 11, according to Canetti, but FIFA does not need to be entirely moved out by that point. It only means that tearing down after that date means the organization will have to share the space with others.
The stadium’s primary tenants are the NFL’s Houston Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
“All of that will start to come down so the stadium can transition out of FIFA World Cup mode and into getting ready for the NFL season,” Canetti said.
The biggest part of the removal process is the natural grass pitch, which took multiple days to install. Thousands of square feet of grass will be removed from the stadium. The grass was not cultivated for Houston’s scorching summers, either, so it will ultimately wither away. Canetti stated there is a plan for the grass to be disposed of properly, with environmental factors taken into consideration.
Michael Adkison/Houston Public Media
Grow lights on the natural grass pitch for NRG Stadium, called Houston Stadium for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, on June 10, 2026.
FIFA also made changes to the food service areas, suites, clubs and locker rooms at NRG Stadium in preparation for the World Cup. All of those areas will be restored to their original conditions. Fencing around the perimeter of NRG Park will also be taken down.
Many of the volunteers selected by FIFA will also be relieved of their duties at that point. Prior to the start of the tournament, volunteers were assigned to select duties, including working at NRG Stadium or fan fest. Each of the volunteers who worked on match days at the stadium will be finished volunteering and will not be relocated to the fan fest.
In the weeks following the World Cup, NRG Stadium will undergo another transition. Beginning in August, the stadium will return to its name of Reliant Stadium — and the grounds around it will be Reliant Park — after officials with NRG Energy Inc., which has a naming rights deal for the Harris County-owned property, opted to change the name and branding.
NRG Park officials did not return a request for an interview about the work happening at NRG Park for the transition.
Sophia Jozwiak/Houston Public Media
Signage for Reliant Park, formerly NRG Park, in Houston on June 3, 2026
Already, much of the NRG-related signage has been removed from the park, including the name on the side of the stadium. In fact, some signs around the park already bear the name of Reliant Stadium.
Houston saw a spike in international travelers from the Netherlands, Germany, Morocco, Japan, Brazil and many other countries over the previous three weeks. That’s expected to also come to an end.
RELATED: Thousands of soccer fans are in Houston for the World Cup. Here are some of their stories
“We always anticipated that the bulk of travelers coming to Houston for the FIFA World Cup would be here during the 21-day match window and around that period,” Canetti said. “It’s almost like we have two World Cups here. We have the 21-day period where there’s matches and all these international visitors coming in and all the cool things that go along with that, like fan marches and other events. And then there’s the last two weeks where there are no matches being played in Houston, but the World Cup ramps up, the momentum gains, because we’re getting into these bigger matches.”