​The Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens play their Week 3 game in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Sunday. The field in Maracanã Stadium has been a major concern leading up to the game, but on Saturday the NFL sounded confident there would be no issues once the game kicked off. NFL Field Director Nick Pappas addressed the media from the stadium and detailed everything the league was facing with the game. He also explained what steps they took to ensure the players had a worthy playing surface for the contest. MORE: Cowboys rule out 4 players ahead of Brazil game vs RavensNick Pappas, NFL Field Director, said that the field in Rio passed all guidelines, and the league has been in correspondence with the NFLPA and both teams about the surface.All in all, the lasting concern is the rainfall. Expect a slick surface, but it’s not expected to be… pic.twitter.com/HBL0Yy84Nr— Nick Harris (@NickHarrisFWST) September 26, 2026According to Pappas the league has sent people down regularly since January to work on the field. They have experienced an abnormally wet Spring and two teams call the stadium home. “They’ve had high-traffic, high-use, challenging weather, time of the year. A little bit of a perfect storm of things that have made groundskeeping challenging.” The stadium has new Bermuda grass and the NFL provided tarps to mitigate the rain. They also increased the “agronomic package,” which in turned increased fertility, drainage, growth and recovery. Last but not least they drove synthetic fibers into the ground using the GrassMaster Stitch Machine. You can see that in action below.MORE: Don’t blame Jerry Jones if the Cowboys lose to Ravens in BrazilHoje, o gramado do Maracanã está recebendo a aplicação de fibra com a utilização da GrassMaster Stitch Machine.O procedimento, realizado como reforço estrutural para o gramado, consiste em uma sobrecostura, aumentando a resistência e a segurança do campo. pic.twitter.com/9snmDUcx4l— Maracanã (@maracana) September 24, 2026Keep in mind all this was done for a regular season game. This is what the NFL has to do after Jordan Love got hurt in the league’s first game in Brazil two seasons ago. It seems like a lot of work for a single regular season game, but the NFL must continue to expand its footprint no matter the cost.—Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter—