NFL
NFL players’ union seeks grass fields over turf amid injury worries
Amid Rodgers’ injury, NFL players are urging stadiums once again to transition away from artificial surfaces as quickly as possible.
On Wednesday, NFL Players Association (NFLPA) Executive Director Lloyd Howell revealed that NFL players overwhelmingly prefer natural grass fields and are urging stadiums to transition away from artificial surfaces due to injury concerns.
This call for action comes shortly after New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a season-ending Achilles tear on the synthetic turf of MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. The incident has reignited players’ demands for a surface change, echoing similar requests made in previous seasons.
“Moving all stadium fields to high-quality natural grass surfaces is the easiest decision the NFL can make,” Howell said in a news release.
“The players overwhelmingly prefer it, and the data is clear that grass is simply safer than artificial turf. It is an issue that has been near the top of the players’ list during my team visits and one I have raised with the NFL.”
Howell also expressed criticism towards NFL teams for installing grass surfaces specifically for soccer matches and their intentions to do the same for the upcoming World Cup without extending the same effort to benefit football players.
“While we know there is an investment to making this change, there is a bigger cost to everyone in our business if we keep losing our best players to unnecessary injuries,” he said. “It makes no sense that stadiums can flip over to superior grass surfaces when the World Cup comes, or soccer clubs come to visit for exhibition games in the summer, but inferior artificial surfaces are acceptable for our own players.
“This is worth the investment and simply needs to change now.”
In June, the union appointed Howell as its new executive director, succeeding DeMaurice Smith, who had held the position since 2009. Both Smith and union president J.C. Tretter had previously advocated for the league to switch to natural grass fields.
Grass vs turf
An NFLPA and NFL-approved study, conducted with research contracts from IQVIA and BioCore and published in the American Journal for Sports Medicine in 2018, reported a 16% increase in lower extremity injuries per play on synthetic turf compared to natural turf.
“The NFL and the NFLPA have access to the same injury information, which is collected by independent experts and shared at the CBA-mandated joint field surface safety and performance committee meetings,” Miller said in April.
“The committee, including the NFLPA’s experts, believe that simply playing on natural grass is not the answer to this complex challenge. Some artificial turf surfaces have a lower injury rate than some grass fields -- and some grass fields have a lower injury rate than some artificial surfaces.
How is the NFL reacting to this?
The NFL did not provide an immediate response when questioned about the union’s latest request for a field surface change.
The second week of the NFL season will start with the Minnesota Vikings taking on the Philadelphia Eagles at 8:15 p.m. EDT on Thursday in Philadelphia.