March 26 – If you want guaranteed spectacular then you have to go to the entertainment capital of the world. Los Angeles will deliver that and for the 2026 World Cup, the SoFi Stadium in Hollywood Park is the place to deliver it. The hope is that the football will match the stage it is played on.
Yesterday (Thursday) the LA World Cup 2026 organising committee took to the pitch to launch… a pitch.
Also on the itinerary was the launch of L.A.’s official World Cup sound – known as the Los Angeles Sonic ID – while those in attendance got to kick the LA26-branded ball around. The Sonic ID is the official audio tract that will represent Los Angeles and used by host city supporters, sponsors, broadcasters and in-stadium pre-match ceremonies.
President of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams who hold tenancy in the stadium that will be significantly modified for the World Cup party, said: “Stan Kroenke (owners of the Rams and Arsenal in the Premier League) said to me (when we built this stadium) we want to host every event in the sports entertainment world under the sun on this beautiful grass.”
The SoFi will host 10 matches in 2026, including the opening game of the US team as well as a second group game. But before then the pitch will host the Concacaf Nations League semi-finals and final, March 20 and 23, and USA women’s international on April 5.
Once those games have been played, just 45 days after the pitch was laid, it will be removed on April 6, in time for a concert to be held April 7.
The attention to detail is impressive. While the relationship between FIFA and the SoFi Stadium had a rocky start with FIFA demanding multiple stadium construction requirements to achieve regulation pitch width, but at the same time being slow to detail the event rights LA had, now there is no doubt that the SoFi and LA are all-in.
The pitch that the USA and Panama will christen on March 20, before Mexico and Canada take the field as the second match of the double header semi-finals, is a test for 2026 of not just the grass but the fully integrated system it sits on.
The pitch has been laid on top of the existing LA Rams grass. A permaboard base has a synthetic layer over the top of which in turn is covered by sand and then the grass turf that was grown in Washington State and shipped 1,200 miles south.
A fully integrated and irrigated system, there is a forced air system under the pitch to give the grass the oxygen it wants. Outside the stadium there is a further 10,000 sqft of grass growing in the parking lot should any areas need to be patched between games.
The four Nations League games will test the pitch that for this competition will be 64m by 100m, but when it is rebuild 73m by 105m to meet FIFA’s pitch size requirements.
To get that pitch size the stadium has ingeniously re-engineered its four corners, losing about 400 seats in total via a removable system that sees them taken out to accommodate width requirements, but later replaced once football leaves and normal NFL business resumes.
Over the next 15 months the LA 2026 organisers have a programme on local activities building into the World Cup and a legacy programme that will push beyond it.
All of that comes at a cost, but it is worth it. The projected economic impact of the 2026 World Cup is $594 million+ for Los Angeles County. The city expects 179,200 visitors who will occupy 329,650 hotel room nights and spend on average $2,350 per visitor in around the greatest show on earth in the entertainment capital of the world.
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