The Professional Playing Fields Debate

By Samuel Breyer-Essiam ‘28

Water poured over players’ cleats at Nissan Stadium in Nashville on September 20. The Washington Post reported that the artificial turf had reached over 157 degrees, while Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Cam Jurgens said that he had gone through two pairs of cleats already.

But heat is only one piece of a larger dispute in the National Football League: whether artificial turf causes more player injuries than natural grass. Per The Sporting News, fourteen NFL stadiums still use turf this season, and the players’ union, the National Football League Players Association, wants all of them to convert to grass.

For a third consecutive season, the NFL reported similar rates of non-contact injuries caused on turf and grass.. NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills stated in an interview with Fox “the playing surface is only one factor, paired with player workload, fatigue, and cleats.” The NFLPA, however, depicts the same injury data differently. Their analysis of the league’s injury reports from 2012-2018, found 28% more non-contact lower-body injuries on turf.

Players have picked their own side in this debate. About 92% of players prefer grass, according to an NFLPA survey of about 1,700 players. The 2026 World Cup gave them a new talking point, as seven NFL stadiums, including Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, replaced their turf with grass to meet FIFA tournament standards. Since then, many players have urged the NFL to keep grass in its stadiums, including San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle. Despite suffering an Achilles tear on both grass and turf fields, Kittle still voiced strong opinions on the Pardon My Take podcast, saying owners could provide grass year-round “if [they] really gave a s***.” Kittle brings up the point that while many NFL owners could use grass year-round, they have practical reasons to use turf, which include lower cost, easier maintenance, and the ability to host concerts.

This pattern of injury extends to high school athletes as well. A University Hospitals study found that athletes were “58 percent more likely to sustain an injury during athletic activity on artificial turf,” especially in football, soccer, and rugby.

Milton has nine fields, including Berylson, a turf field installed in the summer of 2018. The turf is primarily used for field hockey and boys’ and girls’ lacrosse, as well as occasional soccer use, according to Athletics Administrative Assistant Ms. Sheila Egan. But Head Athletic Trainer Ms. Jennifer Bonn sees little difference in injury rates between turf and grass. The most noticeable differences, Bonn said, are “turf burns and shin splints.” Her one example from this season involved an athlete who caught their  foot in the turf and twisted an ankle.

At Milton, the decision between turf and grass is less about the cost and maintenance concerns like the problems facing NFL stadiums, but more about the sport and the weather. While the NFL and NFLPA argue about injury data, Bonn sees very little difference between the two surfaces besides the type of injuries.

Instead of requiring grass, the NFL will now require every stadium to meet the new specific surface standards by the start of the 2028 season. Whether the  field is synthetic, grass, or a mix of the two, fields will be tested on their traction ability. As Sills details, this will allow the league to move past unwarranted comparison between turf and grass, and study the individual properties of each surface. Milton makes the same kind of choice but on a much smaller scale, keeping most fields grass, while still using turf depending on the sport and weather. In both places, the best surface still depends on the game being played and the conditions played in.

Source: Milton Magazine