EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University researchers played a key role in developing the fields for this year's FIFA World Cup.
Trey Rogers, an MSU professor, and his team worked with FIFA and researchers at the University of Tennessee to design the turfgrass systems for all 16 fields in the tournament.
WATCH: Michigan State researchers helped develop the 2026 FIFA World Cup fields
Rogers said FIFA first contacted him about the project in late 2019.
The fields use reinforced turf with layers of supports and drainage underneath. Rogers said one challenge was ensuring all fields would play the same, whether they had natural grass year-round or only for a few months.
The grass was grown in a specific way to be strong and easily transported from sod farms across North America to the host stadiums.
Rogers' team created a timeline to plant, grow, deliver and install the turf so it would be ready for the games.
"You have to have an answer by X. They're not moving these games," Rogers said.
Rogers said the amount of foot traffic on each field presented an extra challenge. The traffic includes not just players, but rehearsals and other activities.
"The amount of traffic that might be on one game, again not just the players themselves but everything else included. Rehearsals and things of this nature. That would be equal to one Super Bowl. And so now that means some of these stadiums would host up to nine Super Bowls," Rogers said.
This is Rogers' second World Cup project. He said the success of the work comes from his students, many of whom have worked on international projects.
"For a long time you couldn't go to work for me without having to get a passport because we were going to do something international. And so when you say the success of the projects, it only comes from the students," Rogers said.
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