{"id":82744,"date":"2025-12-10T05:02:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T05:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/82744\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T05:02:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T05:02:20","slug":"north-texas-world-cup-organizers-lay-out-work-ahead-after-enjoying-brief-victory-lap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/82744\/","title":{"rendered":"North Texas\u2019 World Cup organizers lay out work ahead after enjoying brief victory lap"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON \u2013 Back from a triumphant 48 hours in Washington, D.C.<\/a>, Dallas Sports Commission executive director Monica Paul blushed Tuesday as the two men with whom she shared the dais showered her with kudos.<\/p>\n

To her right sat North Texas FIFA World Cup Organizing Committee co-chair Dan Hunt. To her left was Cowboys<\/a> executive vice president of business operations Chad Estis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thrilled for her to kind of have a victory lap with what happened with the draw and the awesome matches that we\u2019re going to have,\u201d Estis said.<\/p>\n

Indeed, last week\u2019s draw and match pairings reaped a bonanza for North Texas<\/a>, with AT&T Stadium guaranteed of hosting games featuring reigning champion and world No. 2 Argentina, No. 4 England, No. 7 Netherlands, No. 10 Croatia and No. 18 Japan \u2013 and that\u2019s just in group play.<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kevin Sherrington’s A La Carte.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"(From<\/p>\n

But Paul\u2019s victory lap? Out of necessity, that\u2019s been cut short as Paul and the organizing committee turn to next summer\u2019s mammoth task of hosting a World Cup-high nine matches and an estimated 2.7 million soccer fans from around the world.<\/p>\n

Fittingly, Tuesday\u2019s news conference was held in AT&T Stadium<\/a>, site of next June\u2019s five group stage games; a pair of round of 32 matches; one quarterfinal match and on July 14 a semifinal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a better stadium in the world,\u201d Paul said. \u201cWe\u2019ve hosted many, many events here; we\u2019d love to continue into the future. But this one is going to set us into another level. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to take a village, but I\u2019m very excited for what is to come. This is a once in a generation opportunity for us to leave a true, lasting legacy \u2013 not only for the sport of soccer, but for our region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now that the organizing committee knows which national teams and fanbases are coming to North Texas for group play, years of general planning now moves into hyperdrive and becomes more specified.<\/p>\n

Paul, Hunt and Estis laid out a timeline of occurrences in North Texas, and specifically inside AT&T Stadium, during the 186 days leading to the June 14, Netherlands-Japan group stage opener in Arlington.<\/p>\n

For the next few weeks, the primary focus will be to woo national teams to the five FIFA-approved base camp sites in North Texas<\/a>: Toyota Stadium and FC Dallas\u2019 training facility in Frisco; Dallas Baptist; TCU; the University of North Texas and Mansfield Stadium.<\/p>\n

Even before last week\u2019s draw, officials from at least a dozen national teams visited the area. On Monday of this week, multiple teams visited Toyota Stadium, including Argentina.<\/p>\n

Since Argentina is playing two group stage matches in AT&T Stadium, it\u2019s logical that it would set up its six-week base camp in North Texas, but FC Dallas president Hunt on Tuesday refuted one news report that Argentina already had picked Toyota Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I did see that report, and I was hoping it was right, but no decisions have been made at this point,\u201d Hunt said.<\/p>\n

Starting in January, the 42 teams that have qualified for the 48-team World Cup will submit their training camp preferences to FIFA. Submissions will be sent in order of world ranking, so if No. 2 Argentina wants to train at Toyota Stadium, the only team that could prevent that from happening is No. 1 Spain.<\/p>\n

That seems unlikely, since Spain is playing two of its group matches in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have five primary base camps and we\u2019re going to try to fill every single one of them, so we\u2019re welcoming everybody here, obviously,\u201d Hunt said. \u201cIt would be a massive honor to have Argentina here. Their fan base is so passionate and so amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

See photos from the North Texas FWC Organizing Committee’s World Cup 2026 draw and match schedule reveal<\/p>\n

\"TheView Gallery<\/p>\n

Hunt said FIFA is not expected to announce until March or April which teams will train where, but Paul noted that, internally, the North Texas organizing committee should have a good idea by late January which teams will train here.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s expected that national teams will start arriving for base camps during the last week of May. For most if not all of the teams that came to Toyota Stadium<\/a> on Monday, it was not their first visit there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is much more about the nuts and bolts,\u201d Hunt said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been spending a lot of time with our staff about the small details \u2013 weight rooms; field quality; number of fields; places to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also in January, specifically on the 14th, FIFA officials will arrive to set up offices in Dallas\u2019 Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, which also will be the broadcast center and telecommunications hub of the entire World Cup, hosting more than 3,000 broadcasters and technicians.<\/p>\n

Another January milestone: The North Texas organizing committee plans to announce details of the Fan Festival in Fair Park, which is projected to attract 35,000 visitors per day during the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Now that North Texas knows which teams are coming here, those fan events can be tailored to the teams\u2019 respective fan bases.<\/p>\n

For soccer purists, and World Cup teams and players themselves, nothing will be more important than the playing atmosphere in AT&T Stadium and, especially, the quality of the natural grass pitch.<\/p>\n

This past June, The Dallas Morning News detailed the lengths that the Cowboys organization<\/a>, led by Estis and AT&T Stadium general manager Tod Martin, have gone to tackle the challenge of installing and maintaining natural grass in an indoor stadium for 39 straight days.<\/p>\n

AT&T Stadium\u2019s World Cup Kentucky Bluegrass \u2013 and multiple backup fields are currently being harvested in Colorado. It will be shipped to North Texas in refrigerated trucks.<\/p>\n

Weeks before the first matches, crews will remove AT&T Stadium\u2019s artificial Matrix Turf and begin adding sublayers: drain mats, gravel, USGA-grade sand, an irrigation system and the sod itself.<\/p>\n

AT&T Stadium purchased large LED Grow Lights from Netherlands-based SGL System and Martin devised a system to rig the lights to AT&T Stadium\u2019s roof system, so the lights can be raised and lowered over the grass instead of being rolled atop it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re going to have as good of a playing surface as there is in the world, in an indoor stadium, from a temporary perspective, and it\u2019s never been done like that before,\u201d Estis said Tuesday, when asked how prepared AT&T Stadium officials are. \u201cSo yes, it\u2019s a little nerve wracking, but super exciting, and we\u2019re highly confident in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

In anticipation of hosting the World Cup, Cowboys officials completed a two-year, $300 million \u201crefresh\u201d of 2009-built AT&T Stadium to enhance fan experience.<\/p>\n

Improvements included new flooring, furniture, audio-visual components to club levels, as well as refreshing merchandise and concession areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly it was strategic, the timing of that,\u201d Estis said. \u201cWe started talking about that four or five years ago. Obviously a lot of planning goes into that, but to try and get that done for the World Cup was certainly intentional.\u201d<\/p>\n

That $300 million of improvements doesn\u2019t include the tens of millions of dollars that will be required to prepare the stadium floor for installing a World Cup-size soccer field.<\/p>\n

The Cowboys have two regular-season home games remaining and, they hope, a home playoff game. Other events are scheduled for AT&T Stadium in February, including the Monster Jam on Feb. 14 and Monster Energy Supercross Championship a week later.<\/p>\n

Shortly after those events, construction crews will remove \u201cmultiple\u201d field-level suits in each of the stadium\u2019s four corners.<\/p>\n

\u201cA soccer pitch is usually around 114 yards long, so length is not a problem,\u201d Hunt said. \u201cThe width is the issue. American football fields are 53 yards and a couple of feet wide, so we\u2019ve got to raise the field and take up a little bit of the seating bowl to get the width we need, which will be around 74 yards wide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Estis and Paul declined to say Tuesday how much that work will cost. Paul said some of the costs hinge on final approval from FIFA on the specifications it wants.<\/p>\n

After the semifinal match on July 14, crews will work to reconstruct the suites and return the lower bowl to normal before Cowboys preseason games begin.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a big part of the discussion when we were going through the paces with FIFA to learn that we\u2019re going to have to have a construction project and really understand what it would take to go into those corners and take some suites out \u2013 and could we get it back?\u201d Estis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose suites are leased to Cowboys suite holders, so it\u2019s very important to make sure that we could get it back for the preseason. So we have a timeline that does that. It\u2019s going to be real tight.\u201d<\/p>\n

After years of planning and waiting for the 2026 World Cup, the timeline is going to speed up considerably in North Texas during the next six months, on many fronts.<\/p>\n

The rest of Paul\u2019s victory lap will have to wait.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Organizers offer warning to fans trying to buy 2026 World Cup tickets for D-FW matches<\/a><\/p>\n

The announcement of group stage fixtures has sparked a surge in ticket sales across secondary markets.<\/p>\n

\"<\/a>How to buy 2026 World Cup tickets for AT&T Stadium games featuring Lionel Messi, Argentina<\/a><\/p>\n

The next chance to apply for World Cup tickets, including specific matches in North Texas, opens next week on Dec. 11.<\/p>\n

Find more World Cup coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON \u2013 Back from a triumphant 48 hours in Washington, D.C., Dallas Sports Commission executive director Monica Paul…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[150,8079,2124,154,27,29,28,3692,29003],"class_list":{"0":"post-82744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-arlington","9":"tag-att-stadium","10":"tag-fc-dallas","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-texas-headlines","14":"tag-texas-news","15":"tag-world-cup","16":"tag-world-cup-2026"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}