Real Sports makes case for grass over turf in football

More and more NFL players want to play and practice football only on grass. The NFL seems to be more and more determined to not make a universal change.

The new episode of HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, which debuted last night, explored the grass vs. turf question, both from the perspective of the NFL and the perspective of high-school football.

The problem is that, with thousands of turf fields, young players are suffering injuries at a potentially higher rate on turf than on grass.

"Absolutely," Dr. Timothy Kremchek told Andrea Kremer of Real Sports. Kremcheck has served as the Cincinnati Reds’ team physician since 1996, and he also provides medical services at high-school football games. "I see an epidemic of injuries of young, strong, healthy kids that are getting hurt that are risking not only their careers, but their limbs."

The problem is that grass is softer, and cleats don't get stuck in them.

"You put your foot in grass and grass gives," Kremchek said. On turf, that's not the case.

"What happens is the foot hits the ground, and when the body is gonna change direction, the foot stays planted, and it gets stuck," Kremchek said. "And as the body starts to turn, all the stresses go from the foot, the ankle, and then up to the knee. And as the knee turns, boom."

The other problem is that turf fields at high schools are overused and, in plenty of cases, too old. The field gets harder over time, making it more likely that feet will get stuck in the fake grass.

The turf contributes both to leg injuries when feet are stuck, and to head injuries when helmets are thrown onto the turf.

Per Kremer, the NFL downplays the situation. Although injuries rates have been significantly higher on turf than grass in seven of the past eight years, the NFL disputes that universal conversion to grass will solve the problem. The league says that some grass fields actually shower higher rates of injury than some turf fields.

Because turf is used widely by the NFL, lower-level football programs embrace it. At a time when the NFL wants safety measures to trickle down to lower levels of the sport, it's unfortunate (to say the least) that unsafe playing surfaces are embraced by high-school programs, since those surfaces are deemed acceptable by the NFL — a supposed bastion of player health and safety.

How are they supposed to put real grass in that IKEA dome in MN?

You would think some owners might see this a competitive advantage, where 95% of the league is too cheap to follow suit.

Especially with some of the new big money team owners

It goes back to fundamental economics. Grass fields cannot host as many events. And since municipalities are extorted into paying a large part of the bill, these venues need to be used for more than football to justify.Again, sports at that level is business. Build your own damn facility. But if I am paying for it, then I want more use than 10 events a year

And some of these cheap owners are somehow hosting World Cup soccer matches, and will temporarily convert to grass for the event..

‘Real Sports’ is biased (towards unions) and has an agenda/narrative to push. If players demand better working conditions (grass over turf), then players need to understand that replacing all the turf in 32 stadiums and practice facilities will cost hundreds of billions for the replacement and maintenance of those fields. Therefore, the players should contribute to the cost to the NFL teams. In the real world, employees choose where they work and employer improve the conditions when/where they can, if an employee doesn't like the work conditions they can quit. Therefore, if players don't want to play on turf, they can quit/retire and get a real job. In the end, PLAYER demands (salary, bonuses, perks, facilities, etc) wind up costing the fans.

NFL owners being penny wise and dollar foolish

David Scheck says:May 24, 2023 at 2:23 pmIt goes back to fundamental economics. Grass fields cannot host as many events. And since municipalities are extorted into paying a large part of the bill, these venues need to be used for more than football to justify._______________

No one is being extorted. City or municipality leaders voluntarily decide to use public funds to build stadiums. They could easily decline to do so.

The NFL only wants to take the lead when there is a significant carrot to chase.

Players always have the option to not play, they are not being forced. If the NFL wanted it the very rich owners could easily pay for their own stadiums to be used 4 or 5 months out of the year, but players come and go and it is very easy to find someone else willing to take that risk. Don't see any players going on strike and loss of those game checks to make a stand about playing surfaces and the owner know that.

dryzzt23 says:May 24, 2023 at 2:35 pm‘Real Sports’ is biased (towards unions) and has an agenda/narrative to push. If players demand better working conditions (grass over turf), then players need to understand that replacing all the turf in 32 stadiums and practice facilities will cost hundreds of billions for the replacement and maintenance of those fields. Therefore, the players should contribute to the cost to the NFL teams. In the real world, employees choose where they work and employer improve the conditions when/where they can, if an employee doesn't like the work conditions they can quit. Therefore, if players don't want to play on turf, they can quit/retire and get a real job. In the end, PLAYER demands (salary, bonuses, perks, facilities, etc) wind up costing the fans.

7 25 Rate This

———————————–

Hundreds of billions of dollars for grass fields? The entire worth of a franchise to convert it to grass? I think your estimate may be a tad high. But I would gladly cut your grass at a mere fraction of NFL prices!

In the real world , and employee can quit and work somewhere else.In the NFL, you are drafted, 5th year optioned are really good, franchise tagged twice if needed, then you are free to work somewhere else when all of your value is gone and you’re concussed.So let's stop it with the free market talk when we live in America but the NFL is run like 1980's USSR.A Russian executive for the Nets once said in a room of 30 American billionaires, she was the only capitalist in practice.

"replacing all the turf in 32 stadiums and practice facilities will cost hundreds of billions for the replacement and maintenance of those fields." Hundreds of BILLIONS? Uh…no. Not even remotely close. Not even one billion. Not even remotely close. Check your math.

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Not a member? Register now!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.