When North Texas hosts a handful of 2026 FIFA World Cup games, it’s fairly obvious where the attention inside AT&T Stadium will be focused.
However, for one University of Texas at Arlington researcher, what’s happening outside is more interesting. How will an influx of flights, cars, buses, and stadium traffic change air quality across Dallas-Fort Worth?
What’s happening?
According to Texas Standard, North Texas will stage its first match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on June 14 as part of a month-long run expected to bring hundreds of thousands of visitors into one of the nation’s largest metro areas.
Yunyao Li, a UT Arlington faculty member and director of the Atmospheric Intelligence and Modeling Lab, told the publication that the tournament offers researchers an unusual opportunity to observe how air quality responds to a concentrated burst of human activity in real time…