“It’s team support spaces, hospitality, some of the security structure overlay and some infrastructure changes, as not all NFL fields are ready to host FIFA,” says Ryan Sickman, global sports leader at design firm Gensler, which has completed work on six of the World Cup venues. “You’re going to see both sides go north and south just to reach the capacity that we’re trying to reach.”
Toronto’s BMO Field, however, required a lot of work to host the world’s most popular sporting event. Built to hold just under 28,000 fans when it won an ENR Global Best Projects award in 2017, the easternmost venue of the two Canadian hosts is undergoing a $146 million renovation to grow to a capacity of just over 44,000.
“This is a massive infrastructure upgrade,” says Sickman, whose firm is the architect on the project.
Substantial completion is scheduled for the end of March on tThe multi-phase project is being built by a general contracting partnership between PCL and Arena Group.
The project has both temporary and semi-permanent elements. Sickman says the added seating is temporary, “like the ones you saw in Russia” with temporary seating outside of the typical stadium design. But there’s also a semi-permanent overlay that adds additional World Cup hospitality that stadium owners Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment can choose to keep indefinitely.
BMO Field, which regularly hosts MLS and CFL teams, required the project to work with the stadium schedule. “It couldn’t afford not to be used,” says Sickman. “The multi-year phasing schedule was impressive, what happened in that time frame.”
Almost doubling the seats also meant managing a completely new approach to entry and exit, toilets, accessible seating, electrical loads and plumbing loads. The project includes semi-permanent hospitality that largely uses concrete at ground level, sometimes on multiple levels, with steel platforms and scaffolding supporting temporary seating above and beyond.
Making the stadium work with the World Cup setup required a mix of building open space and reworking what was already there. Sickman says they modified the stairs and lifts, moved and worked around the infrastructure and created a new approach to the stadium, resulting in a new look for the World Cup and for when the temporary seating is dismantled. “What we’re trying to do is look at it through the lens of the legacy mode, launched from a permanence perspective as much as the customer is looking for,” he says, “and layer on top of that.”
The American arrival of the 2026 World Cup requires stadium projects
With the 2026 World Cup less than four months away, here’s a region-by-region breakdown of the upgrades taking place at each of the 16 venues:
by Tim Newcomb
New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, which will host the 2026 World Cup final on July 19, went through two phases of renovation to prepare for the tournament.
Photo courtesy of Skanska
Western Region
The Western Region of the tournament features BC Place in Vancouver, BC, Lumen Field in Seattle, Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood outside Los Angeles.
In Vancouver, along with the need to install a turf field, a FIFA requirement, at BC Place, Crown agency BC Pavilion Corp. that manages the stadium says the upgrades are focused on the fan experience, including a video board, merchandise store, restrooms and elevator capacity.
According to a stadium spokesperson, Seattle’s Luman Field required field improvements to install the turf field and additional infrastructure to support this temporary turf field. The $19.4 million project also includes security improvements, including additional lighting, cameras, turnstiles and bollards and the construction of new staging areas. The biggest structural change to the stadium off the pitch is the “seating standardisation” to upgrade the bleacher-style seats in the Hawk’s Nest at the venue to include backrests.
Levi’s Stadium recently finished a $200 million renovation, part of the stadium’s effort to improve ahead of the 2026 Super Bowl. The changes, designed by Populous, included new video boards and sound systems, including the NFL’s largest outdoor 4K video boards that are 40 percent larger than before, Populous says. The kits, lounges and club areas have also been upgraded as the stadium has undergone 15 projects over the past three years. Also included was an interior refurbishment that updated all furniture, fixtures and fittings and interior finishes across high traffic areas, as well as new sponsorship signage.
The SoFi Stadium that opened in 2020 required the pitch to be expanded to accommodate the 74-yard width required by FIFA. To make this possible, the stadium cleaned out the field-level corner seats and replaced them with retractable seats. SoFi also needs to install a temporary turf field.
Central Region
The Central Region features AT&T Stadium outside Dallas, Estadio Banorte in Mexico City (formerly Estadio Azteca), Estadio Akron in Guadalajara, Estadio BBVA in Monterrey, Estadio Arrowhead in Kansas City, and Estadio NRG in Houston.
AT&T Stadium had announced a $350 million upgrade before the World Cup that includes upgrading the world’s largest HDTV video board, updating the pro shops, adding concession and bar options and additional hospitality upgrades. The stadium will add a temporary turf field and requires widening the field to accommodate soccer, which will require reworking the field height and making changes to the lower bowl configuration at field level.
Arrowhead Stadium has upgraded its field and lower bowl seating. NFL bosses said 5,100 cubic yards of dirt and rock were removed and roughly nine million pounds of concrete was removed. Due to the shape of the lower bowl, approximately 3,500 seats were removed to make way for the upgraded field. The seats were then replaced one by one in a modified configuration that includes a modular lift system that can work for both NFL and FIFA events. The field project included a new aeration and humidity control system.
NRG Stadium is installing a natural grass field, which requires the removal of the seats in the lower corner of the bowl. The stadium also got upgraded LED lighting.
In Guadalajara, a new natural grass field, updated video boards and fresh lighting highlight the improvements to the stadium that opened in 2010. Estadio Akron says in a statement that the viewing experience will go to a new level with the highest definition LED technology available and a new audio system. The site will also have a couple of temporary hospitality spaces.
When Banorte Stadium hosts World Cup matches it will become the first stadium to host matches in three different World Cup events. Changes are coming to Mexico City, although local reports are now calling the project behind schedule and with some of the changes in danger of not being completed on time. Key projects include a new ring of metal and glass on the inner ceiling intended to protect fans from the elements. The exterior will have new LED lighting. Other renovations include a new turf field and interior changes to relocate locker rooms, update seating and recreate hospitality spaces in an $80 million project that closed the venue.
Opened in 2015, the BBVA Stadium in Monterrey needed a little refresh before the World Cup, including a new natural grass surface.
Eastern Region
The Eastern Region includes BMO Field in Toronto, MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, Gillette Stadium outside Boston, Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
MetLife Stadium will host the World Cup final, which requires the stadium to prepare its playing surface by removing the four corners of the prefabricated exit seats and replacing them with a new modular steel composite seating system with related mechanical, electrical, audiovisual and plumbing adjustments. The project will include the removal of 1,740 permeable seats to expand the dimensions of the field, moving those seats to a modular system to maintain the NFL’s current seat quantities and designs.
The stadium also introduced four new basic video boards, a new audio system and a new DAS system. “We believe these improvements will provide an engaging event-day atmosphere for our guests,” said Ron VanDeVeen, president and CEO of MetLife Stadium.
A relatively recent 2023 upgrade to Boston-area Gillette Stadium included a north end zone upgrade, along with a new video board. For the World Cup, the stadium will have a temporary natural grass pitch.
Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field removed the corners of the lower bowl seats to accommodate the FIFA field. This field is new for the tournament and other improvements include safety improvements.
A temporary natural grass field will overlay the artificial turf at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The venue also anticipates upgrades to the sound system, lighting, hospitality spaces and Wi-Fi infrastructure.
Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium already underwent a massive renovation in 2016 designed to allow the venue to regularly host Super Bowls, NCAA soccer championships and the World Cup.
