No one’s more particular about turf than international soccer stars, and organizers of the midgame production said they considered several ways to pull off the performance without gouging the surface.
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NEW YORK — Sometime around 4 p.m. Sunday, a team of performers, producers and stagehands will hustle from the bowels of New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium to set up for the first-ever World Cup halftime show.
Billions are expected to watch across the globe, potentially one of the most-viewed live musical performances ever, curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin for Global Citizen, an organization that puts on large-scale concerts to assist in anti-poverty goals.
But the producers and performers — including Justin Bieber, Shakira, BTS, Madonna and possibly a very famous puppet pig — will operate, mostly, with two guiding principles: Go fast, and keep off the grass.
Everything about the 2026 World Cup tournament has been bigger: More teams, more distance traveled, longer games thanks to those pesky hydration/commercial breaks. Perhaps nothing will set it apart like a first-of-its-kind halftime show at Sunday’s final.
But producers insist it will be designed at all costs to protect the match itself.
“From the get-go, it was declared: We’re not a Super Bowl halftime show,” said production designer Bruce Rodgers, who’s sharing the design load with Misty Buckley. “We don’t have time for 40 carts. Our field won’t support that kind of weight and that kind of impact on the turf.”
No one’s more particular about turf than international soccer stars. FIFA spent years and millions of dollars navigating the challenges of getting perfect natural turf into 16 venues across the continent, adjusting for weather, altitude and other factors to ensure the ball rolls or bounces how it’s supposed to. Protecting that was paramount.
Organizers said they considered several ways to pull off the performance without gouging the precious turf. Maybe the artists could take a journey around New York? Or what if, like in the beginning of Rihanna’s Super Bowl performance, the stage hovered above the ground?
After meeting with FIFA’s field experts, the production team landed on something less audacious: building some kind of pitch cover, made from polyester material and spanning more than 7,000 square meters, which will also help establish the show’s theme of using soccer as a tool for bringing people together across the planet.
“We can’t give too much away about the pitch top,” Buckley said, “but I think everybody across the globe will see themselves reflected in it in some way.”
The pitch cover isn’t the only safeguard. The crew will also use lightweight gear, including cameras that “travel across the pitch without making any indentations in the grass,” executive producer Guy Carrington said. Buckley also hinted that the halftime show wouldn’t be centered around a typical, three-dimensional stage.
All of which should help producers and their crew clear their other logistical hurdle: Keeping the concert short.
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The typical NFL halftime is around 13 minutes. For the Super Bowl, that break gets extended to over 25 minutes to make time for sprawling performances like Bad Bunny’s in February. But a short halftime is sacred in soccer, and the International Football Association Board’s rule book says halftime breaks should run under 15 minutes.
The Athletic reported this week that FIFA is targeting a total break of 20 minutes, which is allowed only with the referee’s permission, according to the IFAB rule book.
All told, the entire process for the halftime performance — from the moment the operating staff rush out of Tunnel C to the moment the field is clear again — is expected to last just 11 minutes, according to production designers and producers.
It’s a tight window, especially because it requires some of the biggest stars in the world to participate in what is, according to several people, a seriously communal effort.
“Some artists can sing one song in 11 minutes,” laughed Global Citizen co-founder Hugh Evans.
Thanks to FIFA’s rules around stadium branding, there isn’t a sponsor of the halftime show. Understanding that, Live Nation, one of the halftime show’s promoters, hasn’t asked for “a single brand, a single logo,” according to Evans.
Nor should fans expect any political messages. IFAB forbids political messaging on the field, a rule that seemingly extends to the halftime show.
“This isn’t the place for that,” Carrington said. “This is just about a moment where people come together.”
(One exception could arrive at the end of the game: President Donald Trump is expected to present the trophy to the winning team.)
Carrington brushed off criticisms that the halftime show was designed to help American viewers relate to the event. And when it comes to questions about what Sunday might look like, organizers remain especially tight-lipped.
But Buckley and Rodgers mentioned that one particularly infamous hog could steal the show. “We have Madonna, Shakira and Miss Piggy,” Rodgers said. “What else could you ask for?”
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