Every study that’s ever been made on the turf vs. grass debate in the NFL has come out with the same result: playing on grass is safer for players. So, of course, NFL players (and by extension, the NFLPA) prefer to play on grass. It’s a more natural surface that gives way much more easily than the tougher turf. Turf can also feel about as hard as concrete, especially when it gets too cold.
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However, only 15 of the NFL’s 30 stadiums use natural grass surfaces for their fields, leaving the other 17 (the two NY and LA teams share turf fields) to play on turf. But with the injury and safety concerns, why wouldn’t they all be grass?
Surely the reason is already clear: money, baby. Pretty simple. NFL owners prefer turf because it is exceedingly cheaper to put in and maintain.
Kelly Stafford, wife of Los Angeles Rams QB Matthew Stafford, has been known to speak out on important issues within and outside the NFL. After seeing a litany of injuries during the first few preseason games, she said her piece on the turf vs. grass debate.
“I know the NFL is doing whatever they can to help these situations but they’re not doing everything. I understand when people say turf isn’t the problem, and maybe for some of these injuries they’re not,” she stated.
“You never tumble on cement. And I was a cheerleader so yes, I was tumbling. And I tell my girls now, you want to practice something, go in the grass. It’s softer, it’s more forgiving, that’s just what it is. And yet we are still on, a majority, are turf,” she added.
Stafford’s co-host then pointed out how silly it is that teams are still playing on turf fields in the NFL, considering all of the evidence about how bad it is for the players. Stafford also pointed out that the production of turf and the turf itself make players more likely to be negatively affected by carcinogens, which have been reportedly linked to cancer. Environmental factors should also be a consideration.
“Now all these carcinogens situations, and turf is giving it—and it’s not even for Matthew. … But all for these younger kids coming in, and now all these high school kids, everyone’s doing it. … I’m not saying this is the reason for all the injuries that happened this past weekend. But you can’t tell me that—it didn’t help by any means. When you’re hitting cement.”
Kelly also talked about how she felt for Rondale Moore. The Minnesota Vikings WR missed all of last season with a knee injury—and he suffered another season-ender during the team’s first preseason game against the Houston Texans last week.
The turf is bad for players because not only it can be as hard as cement, as Stafford mentioned. But it also doesn’t have as much give as grass, which leads to a lot of ligament tears and knee injuries.
If the league really cares about player safety, they should go full grass, as they do for professional soccer across the pond, a dichotomy that is causing issues for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in America. Billionaire owners can make slightly less than they do now. It wouldn’t be much more than a drop in the bucket for them.
