NFL News NFL News, Reports and Updates
This is the first story in Sportico’s Turf Wars series, examining the business decisions behind choosing natural grass or artificial turf for an NFL stadium.
The NFL built the world’s most valuable sports league largely via forced uniformity. Teams share most revenue evenly, they sell all their media rights as a single entity, and every franchise adheres to the same hard salary cap. It’s unlike any other major U.S. league.
More from Sportico.com
And yet NFL franchises differ significantly in their approach to one of the sport’s most elemental necessities—the playing surface itself. About half the league’s teams play on natural grass, different strains grown in different parts of the country. The other half plays on artificial turf, different types made by different companies around the world.
A longtime point of contention between players and owners, the issue has come to a head in recent years. Players overwhelmingly prefer grass—92% of them, according to the NFLPA. The athletes say it’s easier on their bodies and believe it leads to fewer serious injuries. Last year, union executive director Lloyd Howell said ridding the game of artificial turf entirely is the “easiest decision the NFL can make.” The looming 2026 men’s World Cup, where 11 NFL venues will all install grass fields, threatens to further stoke the debate.
Owners have their own motivations. Grass is slightly more expensive on its face, and it’s much harder (maybe impossible) to maintain amid the rush of non-NFL events at stadiums that contribute tens of millions to some franchises’ bottom lines. The league also disagrees with the union about the relationship between artificial turf and injuries.
Over the next week, Sportico will break down the NFL’s ‘Turf Wars,’ one blade at a time. On Wednesday, we’ll explore the economics for owners. On Thursday, we examine the health and legal concerns. On Friday, we’ll profile some of the leading companies in the business of…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/turf-wars-nfl-finally-tackling-095500024.html
Author : Sportico
Publish date : 2024-09-03 09:55:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
