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Curtains cover windows on the west end of Dallas Stadium before a World Cup Group F soccer match between Japan and Sweden on Thursday, June 25, 2026, in Arlington.<\/p>\n
El\u00edas Valverde II\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
When the\u00a0Cowboys<\/a> made AT&T Stadium available as part of North Texas\u2019 bid to host World Cup games, it essentially meant handing the venue over to FIFA for more than a month.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lock, stock and barrel. Including Cowboys owner Jerry Jones\u2019 suite.\u00a0<\/p>\n Members of the Japan men’s national football team walk-beneath suspended a LED grass grow lighting system at Dallas Stadium in Arlington, June 13, 2026. Japan will face the Netherlands Sunday in the first of nine FIFA World Cup matches at the stadium.<\/p>\n Tom Fox\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n \u201cWhich, by the way, that was tough,\u201d Cowboys executive vice president of business operations Chad Estis said Monday with a chuckle. \u201cWhen we were told that might happen, we were like, \u2018Wow, OK.\u2019 \u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Jerry Jones, his family and Cowboys officials are scheduled to attend Tuesday\u2019s World Cup semifinal between France and Spain<\/a>, \u201cbut in a different suite,\u201d Estis confirmed after a Monday news conference at Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n The news conference was hosted by the North Texas FIFA Organizing Committee, of which Estis is a board member.\u00a0<\/p>\n Along with allowing FIFA to temporarily rename Jones\u2019 cherished venue Dallas Stadium and play the games on natural grass instead of synthetic turf, fans and reporters have noted the FIFA also has done some interior decorating of the infamous windows above the West end zone.\u00a0<\/p>\n Specifically, tinting has been added to greatly soften the afternoon glare \u2013 and curtains that have been used for concerts and other non-Cowboys events have been installed<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Jones already is on record as saying in March that the Cowboys don\u2019t plan to keep the natural grass<\/a> installed because “We have no belief that it’s any safer to play on grass over turf.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It also doesn\u2019t sound like the effectiveness of the tint and curtains have caused the Cowboys to rethink about keeping them for games.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pitch staff prepare the field on the eve of a World Cup Group F soccer match between Japan and the Netherlands on Saturday, June 13, 2026, in Arlington.<\/p>\n Smiley N. Pool\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think so,\u201d said Estis, who also serves as the Cowboys\u2019 and AT&T Stadium\u2019s executive vice president and chief revenue officer. \u201cWe feel like the stadium operates incredibly well for Cowboys games and how we want it to.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a different crowd. Different set of circumstances. The stadium is being used very differently. The spaces that we use for Cowboys games, some of them weren\u2019t used; some of them were used very differently.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n And the playing surface?\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe way our artificial turf is in our stadium, it\u2019s designed to come in and out because we\u2019re a busy stadium and we have a lot of events, so I don\u2019t anticipate any there.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, the curtain thing gets written about a lot. You can ask Jerry about it, as many people do. But look, we\u2019ve been doing it for 17 years, so we\u2019re excited to get the stadium handed back to us. We\u2019re excited to go back to operating it the way we do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Soon after Tuesday\u2019s final World Cup match here, workers will begin the process of stripping the Colorado-grown, Kentucky bluegrass and ryegrass blend that FIFA pitch officials and AT&T Stadium general manager Tod Martin have painstakingly maintained the past six weeks<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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