MetLife Stadium to adjust seats in bid to host World Cup final - ESPN

MetLife Stadium officials plan to remove 1,740 seats to widen the field for World Cup matches as they hope to host the 2026 final but will retain a narrower surface for this year's Copa America.

The stadium in suburban East Rutherford, New Jersey, is among the contenders for the final of the expanded 48-nation, 104-game World Cup on July 19, 2026, along with AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

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«I speak on behalf of New Jersey but also as our partner of New York City, do not underestimate how aggressive we're prepared to be to get the best package of games possible,» New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said during a telephone interview last fall.

FIFA has not set a date for announcing the sites of specific games and could not provide details on renovations at other stadiums, spokesman Lenny Santiago said. For the 1994 tournament, FIFA announced sites of specific games in June 1992, awarding the final to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

Heimo Schirgi, who replaced Colin Smith as the World Cup's chief operating officer last July, was not available for comment. Unlike the 1994 World Cup, FIFA is running the 2026 tournament itself without a local organizing committee.

«The few stadiums that require capital projects are handling each project differently — with some venues scheduling the work across multiple NFL offseasons, while others plan to complete everything at once sometime between now and spring 2026,» FIFA said in a statement.

The highest attendance for sports at MetLife, which opened in 2010, was 83,367 for a Jets-Giants game in October, and the World Cup bid book estimated a capacity of 74,895. The current dimension for soccer matches is 70-by-115 yards (64-by-105