Azteca Stadium in Mexico City will return to a natural playing surface.
Officials said the field, currently a mix of synthetic and natural grass, would be converted to grass during a lull in the venue’s hectic soccer schedule.
“The natural grass, which has been historically used in our field, offers ample advantages for the property, since it is perfectly adapted to the characteristics, infrastructure and needs of use of the Azteca Stadium,” stadium officials said in a statement.
A blended hybrid surface is common in high-use facilities, including soccer facilities in Brazil and Europe.
The NFL scrapped plans for a regular-season game in Mexico City in November 2018, moving the Rams-Chiefs game to Los Angeles because of an unsafe playing field.
The Chiefs are scheduled to play the Los Angeles Chargers on Nov. 18 at Azteca Stadium.
“Mexico’s been a central piece to our efforts to grow the game internationally,” Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt said in November. “Obviously the NFL has a lot of fans in Mexico because of the proximity to the United States, and as an organization we were looking forward to going down there, not only representing the NFL but also the Chiefs Kingdom. It was a great opportunity to grow our fanbase down there and it’s just not going to happen this year.”