NFLPA head: Players strongly want 'high quality' grass fields - ESPN

While NFL players watch some of their stadiums get new grass fields installed for upcoming FIFA World Cup games, it only reinforces their desire to move away from turf.

Fifteen of the 30 NFL stadiums use some sort of artificial turf for American football games. Players have become more vocal in recent years about their desire to play on grass.

«What we want is good grass fields. Good, solid fields,» NFLPA executive director JC Tretter said recently on the «Not Just Football» podcast hosted by Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward. «You don't just want to pull out the [municipal] golf course grass. On every field, you want high quality surfaces. I think one thing is understanding what our players care about. And there is something there that the data hasn't been able to spit back out at us. Which if you ask every player that we polled, 1,700 players, 92% say they want grass over turf.

»There is something about the feeling of being on grass the body feels different. I think if you ask the coaches, just standing on grass vs. standing on turf for three hours, feels different. There is something there that impacts the body."

Tretter said the talking point is that the injury rates on turf vs. grass have become marginal. But he added that if you look deeper into the numbers, turf injuries have held relatively steady. Grass injury rates have gotten worse.

So it's not just the idea of NFL stadiums having grass instead of turf. Tretter said he wants quality grass fields that reach certain unspecified standards.

«I think it's important for us to have metrics to enforce them, making sure the stadiums are being used predominantly for football games, especially when having concerts and monster truck rallies, those are all