AT&T Stadium’s World Cup makeover solved one of the building’s most familiar headaches, but Cowboys fans shouldn’t expect that fix to stick around once the NFL season arrives.
During the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium has hosted a run of marquee knockout-stage games, including Erling Haaland and Norway’s win over Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt’s penalty-shootout victory over Australia in the Round of 32, and Spain’s elimination of Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal in the Round of 16. On Tuesday afternoon, the venue is set for another major moment: the semifinal between France and Spain.
Along the way, the stadium also showed off something NFL viewers have been asking for for years. The late-afternoon sun glare that has repeatedly caused problems for players was kept in check with curtains and window tint. The difference was noticeable, and the setup worked.
But once the World Cup run is over, those changes are coming out. The Cowboys and AT&T Stadium officials plan to remove the fixtures and go back to the way things have been for NFL games, even though the temporary fix did exactly what it was supposed to do.
Chad Estis, the Cowboys’ and AT&T Stadium’s executive vice president and chief revenue officer, told the Dallas Morning News that the issue is not being treated as a priority for Cowboys games. “We feel like the stadium operates incredibly well for Cowboys games and how we want it to," Estis said.
“It’s a different crowd. Different set of circumstances.
The stadium is being used very differently. The spaces that we use for Cowboys games, some of them weren’t used; some of them were used very differently.”
That stance leaves the glare problem unresolved for the NFL side of the building, despite the fact that the same solution has already been used successfully. It wasn’t just the World Cup, either.
Curtains were also deployed when AT&T Stadium hosted the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight, another sign that the fix is there when the building wants it.
For now, the stadium will shift back to football mode, and that means the grass surface used for the World Cup will also go away. The tint and curtains are leaving with it.
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