SEATTLE — On Tuesday, the grass at Lumen Field withstood its first real test: the rain.
The U.S. women’s national team became the first players to christen the newly installed grass, returning to Seattle with a 1-0 loss to Japan. But a persistent downpour that lasted all day Tuesday served as an early trial for the surface, which was installed last month in preparation for the 2026 World Cup.
It’s been a decade since either U.S. national team has played at Lumen Field as a result of the turf, so the switch opened up an opportunity for the USWNT to return to the Pacific Northwest. Over 36,000 fans made their way to Lumen Field, braving the rain in a sea of raincoats and ponchos — they’re used to this, after all — to watch the USWNT play on the brand-new surface.
Overall, the grass, made up of real grass woven with artificial fibers, appeared to hold — a positive sign, given the complexity of the installation to make the stadium World Cup-ready in June.
Postgame, the USWNT players praised the grass, even with the nasty weather.
Midfielder (and part-time captain) Claire Hutton described it as “really nice.” Team captain Lindsey Heaps was a little more practical: “I didn’t notice it at all, so that means it was a good thing,” she said.
Defender Tierna Davidson got a little more in-depth. “I think playing on natural grass with a bit of a sprinkle, I don’t mind it,” she said “The grass was playing like a typical natural grass field, so I thought it was great.”
USWNT head coach Emma Hayes agreed that it was a “nice surface,” though she admitted that the weather may have played a role in how the ball moved.
“I think it played nicely. I didn’t get the sense that there was an issue there,” she said. “However, because it was so wet, it played really quick. So, I think our short passes … anything that wasn’t put into people’s feet, if it was a misplaced pass or so it’s over here, it just ran away from us. So yes it plays a part, but this is football, you’ve gotta play the conditions.”
The transition to grass was a must for Lumen Field, one of only two artificial turf NFL stadiums participating in the World Cup this summer. (The other, Gillette Stadium, has also been updating its field over the past few months.) So the switch took place over the past few weeks, as part of a larger renovation of the stadium. Rather than tear out the turf, more than a foot of sand was placed on top of the existing turf, before the sod was placed on top, per The Seattle Times.
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Lumen Field used the grass installation as a chance to make other improvements throughout the stadium. The northern section of the stadium (known as “the Hawk’s Nest”) got an upgrade during the renovations, with the metal bench seating replaced with plastic seats forming the Seattle Seahawks mascot. The stadium entrance and ticket-scanning system was revamped. Small screens were added above the tunnels leading out to the concourse; section numbers were repainted to be bigger and more visible.
That revamp displaced two of Lumen Field’s tenants, the Seattle Sounders and Seattle Reign, resulting in the two playing “home games” across the state in Spokane. But the two will be rewarded with a handful of home games on the surface: The Sounders will play seven home games, and the Reign four, before the grass is removed.
Like most grass fields, the surface needs to be carefully tended to. At halftime on Tuesday, a group of staff members combed over the grass with orange buckets, seemingly picking up pieces of grass, while others patted down the squares of sod with sticks. Postgame, a team of four lawn mowers maintained the grass in its carefully cut lines.
Postgame, Davidson pointed out the difference between short-term grass fields and long — like, say, the temporary sod put down in many stadiums (including Lumen) for the Club World Cup last year — means that fields like this are given more care, with better results.
“I think because it’s one of those lays that are kind of a longer-term lay in the sense that it’s going to be there for a number of months,” she said. “I think that first allows time for it to take and then there’s a little bit more attention to the very small details because it’s going to be used for a major tournament, so I thought it was done really well.”
