They have to install playing surfaces that meet exacting standards. They have to change the names of the facilities. They have to shut down all other business (such as major concerts) for the duration of the World Cup.
Given the hoops through which the 11 NFL stadiums will have to jump in order to placate FIFA, it’s fair to ask whether it’s worth it.
Ben Volin of the Boston Globe recently took a look at that question. Said an NFL official from a team that won’t be hosting any of the World Cup games, “I know more than a few teams weren’t disappointed to lose the bid.”
That could be sour grapes, because those who won the right to host the matches are crowing about it.
“Can’t sleep,” Cowboys owner and G.M. Jerry Jones said recently, per Volin. “This is a great chance to associate with the worldwide love with soccer, and lets us put a little notch on our belt and share it with what soccer’s about, too. They’ll never be able to take away that we held those games in that stadium.”
Cowboys executive Stephen Jones echoed the sentiment: “We’ll be shut down all summer. But it’s worth it. I mean, this is about brand and, you know, being a part of something special.”
The Joneses wanted to host the matches badly enough to give up their suite for the matches.
“I think I’ve got to go someplace else, but that was a part of it,” Jerry Jones said. “We did a lot of things to make this work.”
The Cowboys, Patriots, Falcons, Texans, Chargers/Rams, Giants/Jets, Chiefs, Seahawks, 49ers, Dolphins, and Eagles will be hosting World Cup games in their stadiums.
The total revenue is projected, per Volin, to be roughly $11 billion. FIFA will pay rent for the stadiums, while keeping the revenue from sponsorships, tickets, suites, merchandise, concessions, and parking.
So how much will the teams get for hosting the World Cup? Per Volin, the terms “have been kept under wraps.”
Given that folks like Jones are not known for doing bad deals, they’ll surely be making more money to host the World Cup matches than they would have made in a normal summer.
Still, it’s a headache. Extra work, extra expenses, extra hassles.
Not to mention the P.R. bruise that comes from the perception/reality that NFL owners who are giving FIFA the surfaces it demands while stubbornly refusing to do the same for pro football players.
Osa Odighizuwa was drafted by the Cowboys in 2021. The defensive tackle re-signed with them in 2025 despite a higher offer from the Commanders as one of the top free agents.
All for the Cowboys to trade him to the 49ers this offseason.
His new team plays his old team this season, and Odighizuwa is very much looking forward to the meeting.
“It’s the game that you got a picture on the dartboard, and you’re throwing a knife at the picture,” Odighizuwa said recently on The Richard Sherman Podcast, via Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News. “Now, I just take down the picture and I put up the other picture, and I’m on the other side of it, but the energy is exactly the same.”
Odighizuwa became expendable after the Cowboys traded for Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams. The 49ers sent a third-round pick to Dallas for him.
“I’m definitely happy to be [with the 49ers],” Odighizuwa said. “It’s a great organization from top to bottom. I feel like it’s definitely just a winning mentality over here, so it’s definitely cool to be a part of that and go from one good organization to another one, and just being in a great space.”
Odighizuwa recorded 216 tackles, 81 quarterback hits, 34 tackles for loss and 17 sacks in his five seasons with the Cowboys. He expects more. He will make his return to AT&T Stadium on Nov. 15.
“For the past five years, I haven’t scratched the surface of the player that I am,” Odighizuwa said. “It hasn’t been put on full display, so I just plan on putting that on display.”
Saints head coach Kellen Moore said in March that the team will be holding training camp in Louisiana this summer, but they will head to California for some extended work as well.
The Saints are scheduled to be in Los Angeles for their second preseason game and Moore said at a Thursday press conference that the team is slated to hold joint practices with the Rams before that contest. Moore also said that the team plans to work out with the Cowboys, who train in Oxnard, while they are out west.
The final game of the preseason will take place against the Cowboys in Dallas.
Moore said that the team will also be hosting joint practices with the Jaguars. The two teams will face each other in the Superdome on August 15.
A veteran receiver is hanging up his cleats.
The Cowboys placed Parris Campbell on the reserve/retired list on Wednesday, according to the league’s daily transaction wire.
Campbell, 28, was a Colts second-round pick in 2019. But he had a lot of trouble staying healthy in his first few years before playing all 17 games in 2022. That was his best season, as he caught 63 passes for 623 yards with three touchdowns.
Since then, Campbell has bounced around the NFC East. He played 12 games for the Giants in 2023 before winning Super Bowl LIX with the Eagles, appearing in all three postseason games for the club.
Campbell spent last season on Dallas’ practice squad, appearing in just one game.
In his seven seasons, Campbell caught a total of 123 passes for 1,117 yards with six TDs.
The Pro Football writers of America has selected Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott as its winner of the 2026 Good Guy Award.
Prescott was praised for his dealings with local and national media during the 2025 season.
Prescott, the 22nd Good Guy Award winner, is the first member of the Cowboys franchise to win the award.
Other finalists for the Good Guy Award were Browns guard Joel Bitonio and Bears safety Kevin Byard III.
The Good Guy Award is given to an NFL player for his qualities and professional style in helping pro football writers do their jobs. The award has been presented annually by the PFWA since 2005.
Prescott, a finalist for the Good Guy Award for the second time in the past three seasons (2024, 2026), is one of the more accessible players in the league, especially at the quarterback position. He fulfills his regular media obligations and then some, and he also chats with local media in an off-the-record format to provide context. The Dallas PFWA chapter named their local Good Guy award for Prescott – the chapter’s award recipient in 2017 and 2019 – starting with the 2025 presentation.
