March 7 – The SoFi Stadium in Hollywood Park is this week laying grass over the top of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams pitch in preparation for the Concacaf Nations League finals that kick off March 20.
It is the first time that the stadium has laid a fully integrated and irrigated grass pitch for soccer. Previously the football (soccer) field has been rolled out over the artificial field.
The first games on the new surface will be the Nations League semi-finals, opening with the USA vs Panama and followed by Canada vs Mexico on March 20.
The four teams will return three days later for the third place play-off and final in March 23.
The pitch will stay in place until April 5 when the US women play Brazil.
After that match it will be removed.
At the Nations League finals media launch last week the sand base and irrigation system was being installed.
Intended as a being a test for the 2026 World Cup, stadium officials would not be drawn on the cost, saying only that “you can’t put a price on perfection”.
Next week media are being invited to test that perfection as the Los Angeles World Cup 2026 Host Committee unveil the finished surface alongside the LA26-branded ball.
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