SoFi Stadium is one of the many NFL venues around the country that uses an artificial turf field instead of a natural grass playing surface. Despite pleas from players each year to require every stadium to use grass, the NFL refuses to budge on the matter and continues to utilize turf.
The 2026 World Cup has brought that debate up once again because FIFA required every stadium to have a natural grass field, including SoFi Stadium. So the artificial turf was stripped out and replaced with grass, which can grow naturally thanks to the translucent roof and open-air construction.
Fascinatingly, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated shared on Monday that he’s heard if the Rams were the only team playing at SoFi Stadium and didn’t share it with the Chargers, the field may have been grass all along.
SoFi Stadium (named Los Angeles Stadium for the World Cup, which is another story) hosted the U.S. team on Friday night and the grass glittered for the Americans’ rout of Paraguay. The translucent roof, believe it or not, allows for enough sunlight to effectively grow grass in the indoor stadium. And I’ve heard that if the stadium were a one-team stadium—if it had been just the Rams there—then they very well may have gone with a grass surface.
Does this have to do with how quickly the stadium has to be turned over between Rams and Chargers games? Is Breer insinuating that the maintenance would be more manageable with only one team playing there per week?
There’s no question natural grass requires more care and effort, so that could be why both SoFi Stadium and MetLife Stadium use turf, with two teams calling those venues home.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: NFL insider hints SoFi Stadium may have grass field if Rams, Chargers didn’t share it
Reporting by Cameron DaSilva, Rams Wire / Rams Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Cameron DaSilva, Rams Wire | USA TODAY Network
