21 days to the World Cup: The FIFA policy requiring every stadium (except 1) to scrub its branding

The countdown to the 2026 World Cup is on! Each day ahead of the tournament’s return to North America, Yahoo Sports will highlight an insight or moment that showcases just how grand the world’s biggest sporting spectacle has become — even beyond the expanded field of this year’s global event.

Starting next month, 16 NFL and soccer stadiums across the United States, Canada and Mexico will be hosting teams for the 2026 World Cup. But for local fans, things at those stadiums are going to look a little different than the rest of the year.

Stadiums will undergo significant brand scrubbing ahead of FIFA’s marquee tournament, with all brands not associated with the global soccer governing body covered up before play begins. This includes everything from the signs inside the venue to the logos on the roof, to the beer sold at concession stands.

On top of that, all of the stadiums will be neutrally renamed during the run of the tournament, as is standard for international competitions. This affects all of the stadiums with lucrative naming rights deals, which is especially notable among the well-known NFL stadiums in the U.S.

SoFi Stadium, the home of the Rams and the Chargers, will become Los Angeles Stadium. The Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium will be Dallas Stadium. Arrowhead Stadium, named not for an outside company but for the Chiefs that play there, will be Kansas City Stadium. Perhaps the oddest one is MetLife Stadium, which will be known as New York New Jersey Stadium — a mouthful, to say the least.

Of course, the change is merely a formal one; odds are high that locals heading to Philadelphia Stadium (aka Lincoln Financial Field), for example, will still call it The Linc. But for all official purposes, these stadiums will be totally brandless.

There is one notable exception to this policy: At Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, the stadium’s retractable roof is decked out with a very large logo from the automotive sponsor. After working on the issue for months, the stadium was granted an exception to the branding rules because they simply couldn’t figure out a way to cover the logo without causing damage, per reporting from The Athletic’s Henry Bushnell in March. The venue will still be called Atlanta Stadium throughout the World Cup, but the Mercedes-Benz logo will remain.

The other exception is Vancouver’s BC Place, which is owned by the province of British Columbia and does not have any naming rights deals. As a result, the stadium will be known as “BC Place Vancouver” during the tournament.

Some stadiums have already started the process of removing or cloaking any wayward branding. Earlier this month, Gillette Stadium — or “Boston Stadium,” as it will be known — started the process of covering up signs while doing other improvements.

Other stadiums are set to follow suit in the coming weeks, giving FIFA the cohesive, largely neutral picture it expects from each of its venues.