Would real grass cause less injuries than field turf?

[lukemartin79]

Over the past three years the rates have been the same, but before that, the injury rate for turf was higher than it was for grass. The recent hybrid turf/grass surfaces see to be safer than the old style turf. But there really isn't enough data on the newer surfaces yet from NFL games to make any conclusion.

I think the new surfaces are way better than the old astro-turf. Those guys in the 70s were playing on concrete with a thin layer of fake grass on top of it. Those guys got mangled. Its come a long way, but not sure if it wouldn't be safer to just play on regular grass like we all did as kids.

 

[RonnieT24]

I think the new surfaces are way better than the old astro-turf. Those guys in the 70s were playing on concrete with a thin layer of fake grass on top of it. Those guys got mangled. Its come a long way, but not sure if it wouldn't be safer to just play on regular grass like we all did as kids.

I've never actually played on the new turf but when I was coaching high school ball I got to run around on it quite a bit. Of course running around on it is a far cry from being tackled by 300 pound men on it. I did get to play on AstroTurf back in college and that crap was just a hair better than playing tackle football on the street. I think grass is probably safer overall than any of them but there are absolutely conditions which make grass far more treacherous than FieldTurf.. rain being one of them.

 

[lukemartin79]

I've never actually played on the new turf but when I was coaching high school ball I got to run around on it quite a bit. Of course running around on it is a far cry from being tackled by 300 pound men on it. I did get to play on AstroTurf back in college and that crap was just a hair better than playing tackle football on the street. I think grass is probably safer overall than any of them but there are absolutely conditions which make grass far more treacherous than FieldTurf.. rain being one of them.

Great point. Rain makes it a mess. With rain you can quickly have a mud pit. It looks more like mud wrestling than a football game then, lol.

 

[phildadon86]

It must be hard they still haven’t figured out how to do it. You would think if you can put men on the moon, it could be done.

Cant be that hard. They are switching many stadiums for the world cup to grass. I saw a post from a player saying that. If you can make it work for the World Cup you need to do it for your players.

 

[KJJ]

In Vegas, they roll the grass outside to grow, then roll it back in for games. Ridiculous, isn't it?

They do the same thing in Arizona at their stadium.

 

[KJJ]

Cant be that hard. They are switching many stadiums for the world cup to grass. I saw a post from a player saying that. If you can make it work for the World Cup you need to do it for your players.

For a temporary situation it may work. We don’t know everything that’s involved to make it work.

 

[vlad]

All things being equal i enjoyed football because it was played on grass, in elements.

 

[KJJ]

People have been growing "grass" inside for years without issue. Just saying.

Football fields inside dome stadiums and what people do inside their homes are two different things. From everything I’ve read grass needs some light to grow.

 

[CowboyStar88]

Pretty hard, I would imagine, but a lot more stadiums, including Jerry's World, have retractable roofs, allowing for sunlight.

Doesn’t Jerryworlds field roll in and out on a track?

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

I see these hot takes because of Rodgers injury but this specific injury is a matter of physics. The defender’s weight coupled with the force coming down and Rodgers trying to pull away from it put all that tension on his achilles. It likely would have snapped on grass in the same scenario.

 

[KJJ]

Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium has real grass and it’s a non-retractable dome stadium. It’s an extraordinarily expensive stadium, but real grass either important or it isn’t.

They roll the grass inside on rails like they do at the stadium in Arizona. When they’re not playing games the field is outside getting sunlight.

 

[nobody]

Make football field size trampolines and make them play on that.

 

[OmerV]

Pretty hard, I would imagine, but a lot more stadiums, including Jerry's World, have retractable roofs, allowing for sunlight.

Jerry World has a big *** scoreboard blocking sunlight even when the roof is open

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Jerry World has a big *** scoreboard blocking sunlight even when the roof is open

Good point, but the sun changes positions throughout the day (or for science nerds, it appears to because the Earth rotates).

 

[GINeric]

how hard could it be to grow grass indoors?

The Raiders and Cardinals grow it outside on a tray and roll the tray inside for game days.

 

[GINeric]

The Raiders and Cardinals grow it outside on a tray and roll the tray inside for game days.

I just thought.... this sounds like I was saying the Cardinals and Raiders are stoners....

 

[RonnieT24]

I see these hot takes because of Rodgers injury but this specific injury is a matter of physics. The defender’s weight coupled with the force coming down and Rodgers trying to pull away from it put all that tension on his achilles. It likely would have snapped on grass in the same scenario.

It's not unreasonable to think that on a natural grass surface in the rain Rodgers foot might have just slid out from under him or just dug a big divot rather than "catching" on the FieldTurf and shifting all the torque onto his leg. Obviously there's no way of knowing but it's not outside the realm of possibility.

 

[Captain-Crash]

The Raiders and Cardinals grow it outside on a tray and roll the tray inside for game days.

dang, I did not know that.

 

[DandyDon52]

They grow all kinds of food indoors nowadays. So Im sure they can do it with grass. I’m not sure why they don’t.

it is about $, the billionaires go with whatever costs the least. Cost effective is the way to more profits.
Grass fields cost more to set up and maintain and that comes out of the owners pocket.

The only way would be if the nfl as a group were willing to fund all stadiums to have real grass fields.
Most today are the rubber fields where u see the stuff come up when a player drags their foot for example.
In the first game with dallas ny ,you could see the rubber bits on players faces due to the rain.

 

[Kingofholland]

Data last year suggested injury rate of .048 per 100 plays on turf vs .035 on grass. Long term data points to grass be slightly safer, but based on what the NFL shares thats basically .156 more player injuries per team last year. The year prior showed no significant difference.

I would gather natural grass vs a wet turf may make up a larger percentage of the variance. So maybe you start looking at outdoor turf.