There’s a basic, fact-of-life reason why they’ve ripped up the artificial turf at seven NFL venues and replaced the surfaces with pristine natural grass for FIFA World Cup matches.
Soccer players won’t play on anything but grass.
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See that, NFL players? Take note. NGB. Nothing But Grass.
No, it doesn’t seem fair. After a global champion is crowned in mid-July with a World Cup finale at MetLife Stadium – yeah, the place that has such a notorious reputation as an NFL danger zone – the grass will be hauled off and the turf reinstalled.
Never mind the overwhelming sentiment from numerous NFL players over the years – the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) says 92% of more than 1,700 players surveyed recently prefer playing on grass – or optics casting shade on NFL owners.
Exactly half of the NFL’s 30 venues last season had grass surfaces, and half rolled with synthetic turf. Yet the decisions by power brokers to bring back the turf after switching to grass at the seven World Cup venues – including AT&T Stadium, Gillette Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Lumen Field, SoFi Stadium and NRG Stadium – sure looks a lot like a slap in the face to NFL players.
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Unless there’s some unforeseen change of heart, the grass will be out.
“If they want to leave it, it’s all good,” Bijan Robinson, the Falcons star running back, said last week, pondering the grass surface put in for the six World Cup matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. “I like our turf as well. I don’t really have a preference. But I know a lot of the guys would probably rather have that grass in there, than the turf.”
NFL players prefer grass over turf
While Robinson straddled the line, the NFL players union leaves no gray area. The World Cup has provided a high-profile opportunity to illuminate the argument – and perhaps gain leverage for an issue that could ultimately become a key issue in labor talks.
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It’s a debate that won’t quit. The NFLPA points to injury risk and wear-and-tear on the body. That’s undoubtedly a window to consider, given the multitude of rules changes instituted in the NFL over nearly the past two decades in the name of safety. The NFL, though, has routinely maintained that injury data concludes there is no significant difference between grass and turf when considering lower-extremity and head injuries.
Many players beg to differ from the NFL position, often citing what their bodies tell them after playing or practicing on less-forgiving turf surfaces.
As Dion Dawkins, the all-pro Buffalo Bills tackle, put it to me back in December, “Super, super achy, bro. You can drastically tell the difference.”
Bills bucking NFL turf trend
When the Bills open their new Highmark Stadium later this year it will feature a natural grass field – despite the challenging Buffalo winters. The Bills have played on turf for decades, yet the decision to switch flowed from team owners Kim and Terry Pegula as they explored player-friendly ways to extend careers. And hey, with franchise quarterback Josh Allen one of the NFL’s most valuable investments, it may make sense on another level.
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Still, the Bills have raised the bar in the debate, joining the likes of Green Bay, Denver, Kansas City and Philadelphia as franchises using grass fields despite sometimes challenging weather conditions. Advances in technology, including underground heating systems, make it possible. And now it’s possible to have grass fields at domed stadiums, too, with the shining examples in Arizona and Las Vegas, with stadium designs facilitating that grass is grown outside the venues and brought inside on trays for the games.
Of course, cost is an issue. Turf is more expensive to install, yet cheaper to maintain. The real rub, as Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones underscored to USA TODAY Sports last fall, comes with the flexibility that turf allows to stage other events. Think concerts, boxing matches, monster truck shows. And cash registers ringing.
That, too, is an issue for the NFLPA, which apparently sees stadium revenue from non-NFL events as part of the pie to be divided under the salary cap.
J.C. Tretter, the NFLPA’s new executive director, broached that layer of the debate during a recent appearance on Steelers captain Cam Heyward’s “Not Just Football” podcast.
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“The idea that hey, we’re going to host these events (and) that means we have to put a worse surface for you? You don’t actually get any of that money for those events we’re hosting isn’t a great thing for players, either,” Tretter said on the podcast. “And that is what we have to evaluate for the next deal.”
While the NFL and NFLPA (who collaborate with a joint field surfaces committee) have instituted a new policy that establishes higher standards for the surfaces – comparing favorably to the standards for helmet safety that resulted in older models being phased out – this debate could potentially emerge as a key issue in negotiating new collective bargaining agreement between the league and players. The current pact extends through the 2030 season.
NFL players could bring grass to bargaining table
A key question, though, will involve the players’ commitment to demanding all-grass fields. We’ll see. In the CBA that resolved the lockout in 2011, the NFLPA pushed for major changes in their working environment – banning two-a-day practices and a number of dangerous contact drills, among other revisions.
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Yet in talks for the most recent labor deal, in 2020, pushing for grass fields wasn’t an issue, eclipsed by economic splits and the battle over a 17-game season. The next round of talks – and it’s possible, with expanding media rights deals, this could ramp up well before 2030 – will undoubtedly be influenced by expectations for an 18-game season.
Does the idea of having grass fields at every NFL venue rank as a priority? If soccer players can demand it, perhaps that’s not a pie-in-the-sky possibility for NFL players.
Consider the clip-and-save expression from the NFL’s reigning MVP, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, during an appearance last season on the SiriusXM Let’s Go! podcast. Maybe the World Cup soccer players have given NFL players a rallying point.
“They lay grass down for those guys,” Stafford, 38, said on the podcast. “I wanna play on grass every chance I get. I’m an old man. I know how I feel after I play on grass versus how I feel when I play on AstroTurf. It’s night and day. I think, not only for the lower leg injuries, the stuff that’s happened at MetLife, but even for just slamming shoulders, slamming your head into it, whatever it is.
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“Grass to me is a must. I wish we would get it done. Hopefully when I’m done playing, some of these younger guys will get to play on grass for the rest of their career.”
That’s a big wish. But hey, if it’s good for the World Cup, why not the NFL, too.
Go ahead, NFL players. Make it a slogan fit for a cap and bumper sticker: NBG.
Contact Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on X: @JarrettBell
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY Sports: World Cup’s grass fields are envy of NFL players. Will they demand change?
