The Local Girl 
MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, is getting a temporary name change for the 2026 World Cup. Crews were spotted covering up the MetLife signs around the stadium in early April. Tournament organizer FIFA has a strict “clean venue” policy, requiring the stadium branding to be replaced to comply with those requirements. No, it’s not going back to Giants Stadium or The Meadowlands. For the duration of the soccer tournament, it will be called the “New York New Jersey Stadium.” Read on to learn about the switch from MetLife to New York New Jersey Stadium for the 2026 World Cup.
About The MetLife Stadium Name Change
For the 2026 World Cup, all 16 host stadiums across the United States, Canada, and Mexico are required to remove non-partner-sponsored branding. It’s part of FIFA’s “clean venue” policy that requires each stadium to remove sponsored branding from the stadium, including stadium names, seats, scoreboards, staff uniforms, and other signage. Its purpose is to protect official tournament sponsors that pay anywhere from $100 million to $200 million for partnership deals.
The rebranding results in pretty generic names for the stadiums. MetLife Stadium will be known for the duration of the soccer tournament as New York New Jersey Stadium. (Not sure why New York gets to be first since the stadium is located in New Jersey, but we weren’t consulted on the naming.)
Crews were spotted covering up the MetLife Stadium signage on April 8th, per NorthJersey.com. No word yet on when the signage will go back to MetLife branding.
Other US Stadiums Changing Names
Because of the strict policy from FIFA, several other stadiums across the country are undergoing name changes ahead of the World Cup. In Texas, AT&T Stadium will be known as Dallas Stadium, and NRG Stadium will be Houston Stadium. Hard Rock Stadium will be Miami Stadium. Lumen Field will become Seattle Stadium.
The only potential exception is in Georgia. Mercedes-Benz Stadium is slated to become Atlanta Stadium, but there could be remnants of Mercedes-Benz due to the roof. There’s a huge Mercedes star on the roof of the stadium that can’t realistically be covered or removed. Because it’s built into the stadium’s retractable roof structure, trying to hide it could damage the roof or cost millions to fix, per The Athletic. After reportedly long negotiations about this star, tournament organizers agreed to a rare one-off exemption. The stadium will still be rebranded to Atlanta Stadium, but the star on the roof will be the only branding left alone.
World Cup Matches In New Jersey
MetLife – we mean, New York New Jersey Stadium – is slated to host eight matches for the 2026 World Cup in East Rutherford. The first game is scheduled for June 13 and the tournament will conclude with the finale on July 19.
- Saturday, June 13: Brazil vs Morocco at 6PM
- Tuesday, June 16: France vs Senegal at 3PM
- Monday, June 22: Norway vs Senegal at 8PM
- Thursday, June 25: Ecuador vs Germany at 4PM
- Saturday, June 27: Panama vs England at 5PM
- Tuesday, June 30: TBD Round of 32 at 5PM
- Sunday, July 5: TBD Round of 16 at 4PM
- Sunday, July 19: Final 3PM
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