As the debate between grass and artificial turf continues, the NFL continues to have one club in its bag.<\/p>\n
On a Thursday conference call with reporters, NFL executive V.P. Jeff Miller reiterated the league\u2019s default position regarding the two primary playing surfaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve made public injury data on grass and synthetic for many years,\u201d Miller said. \u201cLast three years, there\u2019s no difference between the two in any injury category or overall.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s only part of the story, obviously. The players strongly prefer grass, given the overall impact on the body. They feel better the next day, because the forces go into the ground on grass. On artificial turf, the forces ricochet back into the player\u2019s bodies.<\/p>\n
Beyond that, the occurrence of an injury during a game doesn\u2019t always mean the injury happened at that time. Plenty of injuries occur when an accumulation of wear and tear results in something breaking, tearing, straining, etc.<\/p>\n
Miller also pointed out that the grass fields used for the World Cup wouldn\u2019t withstand the demands of pro football games. Frankly, that\u2019s a given; soccer and football have very different requirements when it comes to the manner in which the surface performs. The notion that a FIFA-quality grass field wouldn\u2019t work for NFL games obscures the reality that the NFL wouldn\u2019t use a FIFA-quality field. The NFL would use an NFL-quality field.<\/p>\n
The broader takeaway from the World Cup is that grass can be done indoors. The challenge becomes the willingness of owners to make the necessary financial investment, by installing a system that will protect the grass when other events happen or by forgoing the revenue from those non-football activities.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s now a collective bargaining issue. And the league undoubtedly would want to share the cost of converting turf fields to grass \u2014 including the revenue losses if the only solution in a given venue is to do nothing but play football there.<\/p>\n