The Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens play their Week 3 game in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sunday. The field in Maracanã Stadium has been a major concern leading up to the game, but the NFL on Saturday sounded confident there would be no issues once the game kicks off.
NFL Field Director Nick Pappas addressed the media from the stadium and detailed everything the league was facing with the game. He also explained what steps were taken to ensure the players had a worthy playing surface for the contest.
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Nick Pappas, NFL Field Director, said that the field in Rio passed all guidelines, and the league has been in correspondence with the NFLPA and both teams about the surface.
— Nick Harris (@NickHarrisFWST) September 26, 2026
All in all, the lasting concern is the rainfall. Expect a slick surface, but it’s not expected to be… pic.twitter.com/HBL0Yy84Nr
According to Pappas, the league has sent people down regularly since January to work on the field. The area has experienced an abnormally wet spring, and two teams call the stadium home. “They’ve had a high-traffic, high-use, challenging-weather time of the year. A little bit of a perfect storm of things that have made groundskeeping challenging.”
The stadium has new Bermuda grass, and the NFL provided tarps to mitigate the rain. An increased “agronomic package” has in turn increased fertility, drainage, growth and recovery. Last but not least, synthetic fibers were driven into the ground using the GrassMaster Stitch Machine. You can see that in action below.
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Hoje, o gramado do Maracanã está recebendo a aplicação de fibra com a utilização da GrassMaster Stitch Machine.
— Maracanã (@maracana) September 24, 2026
O procedimento, realizado como reforço estrutural para o gramado, consiste em uma sobrecostura, aumentando a resistência e a segurança do campo. pic.twitter.com/9snmDUcx4l
All of this has been done for a regular-season game, partly because Packers quarterback Jordan Love got hurt in the league’s first game in Brazil two seasons ago. It may seem like a lot of work and expense, but the NFL must continue to expand its footprint no matter the cost.
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