FIFA, sport’s global governing system, is paying two British land-grant universities—Tennessee and Michigan State—a combined$ 3.13 million to figure out how to develop and maintain great innings for the 2026 World Cup number stadiums and training sites.
The agreement, which Sportico obtained through a public records request, is structured in such a way that Tennessee is considered the “prime recipient” of the project, while Michigan State is designated as the” subrecipient”. So, Tennessee is “responsible for the effectiveness of MSU,” according to the contract.
Both schools are equally cutting Arsenal’s resources, which are going to pay for the wages and fringe benefits of the researchers, go, materials and supplies, graduate student tuition and fees, and other immediate costs. The agreement even includes the University of Tennessee Research Foundation.

This future people’s World Cup will be the first to cross three separate countries—the United States, Canada and Mexico—requiring an array of grass that will work in both great, parched environments as well as warm, humid ones. Following the Copa América games this summer, which were drenched by criticisms about the value and problems of the playing surfaces, the biennial global soccer championship was held.
World Cup 2026 will be played by 48 groups in the arenas of 16 locations and results of exercise facilities. The objective of the research is to, as the agreement puts it, “homogenize the playing surface conditions as much as possible, by studying the paper species of turf for” soccer ball roll, ball bounce and consistency.”
Five months before the host cities and locations were made public, FIFA’s research agreement with Tennessee was signed on January 1, 2022. The agreement later changed in August 2023 to allow for pre-award costs to be started, but overall funding remained the same. After that, Tennessee and Michigan State made a separate agreement.
A FIFA delegation and “pitch managers” from each of the host city stadiums were present for a World Cup turf research day held in Tennessee last spring. This past month, a follow-up gathering was held at Michigan State.
At this stage of the pitch preparations, Senior Pitch Management Manager at FIFA, Alan David Ferguson, stated at the time,” I am delighted with what the team have been able to research and already realize.”
The project, which Sportico first reported on last October, is being led by John Sorochan, the distinguished professor of turfgrass science and management at UT’s Institute of Agriculture, along with MSU turfgrass research professor John” Trey” Rogers III. Rogers was involved in the 1994 World Cup’s field preparation at the Pontiac Silverdome, the first indoor World Cup venue and the former home of the Detroit Lions.
All ostensible indications are that the research is on schedule and will be finished in June, which is one year before the 2026 World Cup games are scheduled to begin. In a statement, Sorochan hailed the partnership as the” first time ever “FIFA has supported” scientific research to better future World Cups. ” (FIFA’s chief legal officer, Emilio Garcia Silvero, is currently instructing a soccer law class at the University of Miami. )

Rogers, in a statement, said”, FIFA’s research support … will allow us to develop and perfect temporary turf even further and to usher in an unbelievable era.”
A Michigan State document, titled” budget justification, “laid out its preliminary staffing needs for a research technician with a one-year base salary of$ 63, 085, two graduate research assistants earning monthly stipends of$ 2, 250, and 2, 000 of” temporary/hourly labor “from undergraduate employees or temp workers earning an hourly rate of$ 12.50.
A number of performance milestone events were anticipated to be accomplished by the second quarters of 2023, 2024, and 2025, according to the overall research agreement. For instance, one of the research teams ‘ first accomplishments was finding which shock pads beneath the playing surface could support 168 pounds of force, equivalent to the players ‘ average weight at the 2018 World Cup.
The researchers were expected to “identify suitable grass species and varieties” for indoor stadium conditions by the beginning of this year along with the best light-growing systems to grow the sod. All of the information collected during indoor trials was scheduled to be incorporated into specific recommendations for each of the 16 host stadiums by this past June. The next iteration of the project will be the final design stage, contact suppliers, and confirm the choice of fertilizers and chemicals to be used on the pitches.
Beyond deliverables, the allocation of rights to the intellectual property and creative work that would result from the research is a significant area of the research agreement.
For instance, the agreement stipulates that FIFA can pay the University of Tennessee Research Foundation for a “global royalty-bearing exclusive license” that would use any of the turf project’s jointly held intellectual property ( IP ) rights that are jointly owned by FIFA. The research foundation and FIFA would have a year to “negotiate a commercialization agreement that would be acceptable to both parties.” ” Notably, researchers have already discussed how their findings could benefit other properties, from the NFL to local parks and recreation departments.
There are still unidentified patent applications arising from the research, at this time.
Any equipment purchased for the project will be entirely owned by the universities. They will also have the right to publish the findings of the study as long as they first give the governing body a copy of the manuscript in advance, if doing so is not deemed to “favorably affect” FIFA’s interests.
Jacob Feldman contributed to this report.