Jerry World Wows Prove It Should Be Hosting the World Cup Final Over Uninspiring New Jersey —Jerry Jones Somehow Channels the Astrodome’s Innovative Spirit

Jerry Jones gave up his suite for the FIFA overlords who’ve never lifted themselves up by their bootstraps like a Texas oil tycoon. Jones ended up getting booed (no doubt by Cowboys fans) in the one World Cup match he attended too. It should be no surprise to anyone that the 83-year-0ld Jones is not much of a soccer guy, but good luck to FIFA president Gianni Infantino in ever matching Jones’ unforgettable Landman cameo.

Suite loss, boos and soccer guys aside, Jerry Jones is one of the big winners of this World Cup. Because Jerry World dominated.

Jones’ sometimes American mocked vision of a super stadium turned into this World Cup’s grandest stage. No other venue could match Jerry World. And more and more are jumping onto the reality that Arlington. . . er Dallas Stadium. . . should have been chosen to host Sunday’s World Cup final instead of New Jersey.

The home of the Cowboys provided the best playing conditions in this World Cup, from Japan and the Netherlands’ thrilling 2-2 tie in the Arlington Cup opener all the way through Spain’s 2-0 defeat of fellow soccer superpower France in Tuesday’s epic semifinal. No stadium hosted more consistently exciting matches. Only the Atlanta Falcons’ 2017-built NFL palace came close, capped by Lionel Messi and Argentina’s thrilling comeback against a turtling England in the other, admittedly more exciting World Cup semifinal.

And people left Atlanta Stadium talking about the cheap food (by stadium standards) more than anything else before that colossal semi. Fans left Dallas Stadium (as nonsensical as that FIFA-mandated name is) buzzing over the entire experience. That’s because no stadium offered a more consistent stage of excellence.

Certainly not MetLife Stadium, the hulking impersonal outdoor stadium that already seems like a relic of the past in the swamps of East Rutherford, New Jersey and the shadow of the American Dream Mall debacle. FIFA picked this place to host the final because it wanted to be able to say its championship was being contested in New York (even though it’s not).

MetLife hasn’t lived up its proximity to Manhattan (just a $105 NJ Transit train ride away!) in this World Cup. It’s been a hot or rainy mess (and sometimes both) with an inconsistent grass pitch that’s almost made some matches a chore.

It turns out playing inside in climate controlled conditions makes for much better soccer in an American summer. In fact, the only stadiums that can compete with Jerry World in this World Cup are the Atlanta Falcons’ even newer indoor NFL Stadium and Los Angeles’ largely indoor showcase SoFi Stadium. Houston’s NRG Stadium also comported itself very well in this Cup, but it did not draw the same quality of matches as the other three climate shielded marvels.

Considering that Houston and Roy Hofheinz came up with the world’s first indoor stadium — the still iconic (and largely abandoned) Astrodome — it’s only fitting that the best of these new era indoor wonders is another Texas marvel. It’s AT&T Stadium. . . er Dallas Stadium. . . for the World Cup win.

Texas Innovation and a Potential New Jersey World Cup Final Bumble

Putting $350 million into the home of the Cowboys (that’s a big check even by Texas standards) to make it even more World Cup ready certainly made a difference. Even whining French coach Didier Deschamps could not complain about the pitch in North Texas. It may have been the only thing Deschamps did not moan about after France’s 2-0 loss in the semifinal

It’s hard to dispute perfection. It should be no surprise that it turns out the all natural Kentucky bluegrass field mandated by FIFA thrives, holds up and looks sublime in both North Texas and Houston’s indoor stadiums. This is the home of the Astrodome innovation. Of course Texans can keep real grass alive under a closed roof and make it look and perform much better than the grounds crews in places like MetLife Stadium, Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia Stadium) and Arrowhead (Kansas City Stadium) can in its natural outdoor habitat.

Texas innovators with a World Cup budget can out perform anyone.

A first look at the completed pitch for the World Cup matches in Houston. The Kentucky bluegrass field was installed on June 4 and has been growing more indoors ever since. The natural grass was trucked in from Denver where it started growing.

The first match in Houston is on… https://t.co/Kv11o3GAGt pic.twitter.com/fxH8CtwLkJ

— Chris Baldwin (@ChrisYBaldwin) June 10, 2026

Will Messi Or Lamine Yamal Be Undone By a Subpar Field?

If the home of Eli Manning does not produce a world class final on Sunday, if Messi or 19-year-old Spanish teenager Lamine Yamal are stymied at all by a subpar pitch, the calls already first guessing the decision to bypass one of the climate-controlled indoor wonder stadiums for New Jersey’s Manhattan claiming will reach a crescendo.

It’s like having a McLaren 750S Spider and deciding to take a Toyota Corolla out for a spin on the race track instead. There is a time and a place for a Corolla. But the World Cup Final is not it.

The World Cup semifinals got the best stadiums in the world in Dallas and Atlanta’s NFL palaces. Now the final goes to a blah stadium that no one’s ever really loved. The beautiful game has something else it needs to rise above in its grand finale.