Trey Rogers didn't know what the World Cup was when he got a call in 1992 asking if he could build a soccer pitch made completely of natural grass, put it over a concrete floor, and keep it alive in a domed NFL stadium over the course of several months.

Trey and his Michigan State University research team accepted the challenge. They engineered a natural grass field, grew it in California, shipped it to Michigan, and rolled (yes, rolled) it into the Pontiac Silverdome for one of the biggest soccer tournaments in history: the 1994 World Cup.

Creating a modular, natural grass playing field that could be inserted and removed was a new idea back then. Now, Trey’s doing it again, at 16 stadiums across three countries for the 2026 World Cup.

As a professor and leading turfgrass expert, Trey explains how color television accidentally started the artificial turf revolution, why NFL players practice on grass even when their stadiums use turf, and how a single bad sod job on Monday Night Football can set an entire field of science back decades. We get into the surprisingly complex science beneath the playing surfaces of our favorite teams, and how those same fields play a surprising role in player longevity.

The most important part of your favorite stadium might be the part you’re overlooking.

Learn more about Trey Rogers and Michigan State University's turfgrass program, considered one of the premier institutions for turfgrass management in the U.S.

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