Inside NRG Stadium on June 14, the temperature will be a comfortable 72°F. Outside, in the construction staging areas, the parking lot operations, the food vending sites, and the security perimeters that make the World Cup function, it will be 95°F with a heat index above 105°F.
For the tens of thousands of paid workers — security guards, caterers, cleaners, transportation staff, and the construction and infrastructure workers completing last-minute preparations — who will spend those hours outside or in non-air-conditioned facilities, there is no enforceable Texas state heat standard that mandates water, rest breaks, or shade. Texas is one of the states that has preempted local heat ordinances: after Austin passed a construction worker rest-break rule in 2023, the Texas Legislature moved quickly to pass HB 2127, stripping cities of the ability to set their own occupational heat standards.
