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Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, like every other turf-field site hosting the World Cup in 2026, will add grass for soccer games in order to comply with FIFA regulations. However, any plans for a permanent transition to a natural playing surface must come to an end here.
The Falcons are one of 17 NFL clubs that play on turf, much to the anger of the NFL Players Association, which has strongly advocated for grass fields throughout the league.
However, Greg Beadles, Falcons president, claims that grass is not practical at Mercedes-Benz Stadium owing to the 50+ events held there each year, including Falcons and Atlanta United games, as well as the SEC Championship.
Beadles also points out that because Mercedes-Benz Stadium has a retractable roof that is frequently closed, a switch to grass would necessitate a terraced field that could slide out into an adjacent location. However, the city and state urged the team to construct in downtown Atlanta, which confined the stadium campus, leaving no place for a rollout field.
“We’re in a very tight location downtown, which is what the city of Atlanta leadership and state of Georgia leadership wanted,” Beadles said. “We like being on the Georgia World Congress Center campus, but it’s very tight.” So we don’t have enough room to roll the entire field. Our location is not solely determined by us. It’s just not sustainable to have grass.”
The Falcons do have big changes in the works, though, according to Beadles: They plan to spend $200 million upgrading Mercedes-Benz Stadium over the next few years, work that will be done haltingly and not be fully completed by the summer of 2026, when the venue hosts those World Cup games.
The planned work is not occurring because of any required Cup upgrades, and it isn’t tied to a Super Bowl pitch for 2028 or ’29, Beadles says. Ownership is creating and renovating luxury and premium seating areas.
Because of the volume of events at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, renovations will come piecemeal, meaning the work will take several years. The stadium opened in 2017 at an estimated cost of $1.6 billion.
