Michigan State University professor John “Trey” Rogers, whose current research focuses on turfgrass establishment for golf course construction and renovation, hadn’t researched athletic turf for years. But when his former graduate student John Sorochan, a professor at the University of Tennessee, reached out to Rogers ’88 PhD Agr about working together to supply turfgrass research and knowledge for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026, he could not resist.

The duo first worked with FIFA in 1994 to develop portable turfgrass—an innovation that revolutionized the turfgrass industry. Co-leading turfgrass research efforts for this year’s World Cup presents an array of challenges, not least managing multiple venues in multiple climates, ensuring turfgrass durability, and maintaining the consistency of practice and play surfaces for all players. With 104 total matches in varying outdoor and indoor climates across North America this summer, the turf must be durable. Its effects on athletes are also crucial. To measure both turf durability and athlete impact, Rogers and Sorochan use a fLEX machine, a technology that simulates cleat strikes on turf—and which has its roots in Rogers’ research at Penn State.

“By the time you do all the pageantry, all the practice runs, it’s not the game that beats the field up, it’s everything before,” he says. On the plus side, sod has shrunk through the decades, which actually makes turfgrass harvest and transportation easier than ever for a project on the scale of FIFA 2026. “The applications in 2026 will all be put over sandroot zones,” Rogers says. “The harvest and transport will be eased by the sod not having its roots cut for harvest.”

The World Cup will take place from June 11 to July 19 and will be jointly hosted by 16 cities in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. —Jeff Hodgdon