Back in 2022, I asked then-Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp whether he had a preference between playing on grass or turf. The answer was obvious, but Kupp looked right into my eyes as if he was waiting months for this question.
“It’s not even close,” Kupp said. “Hands down, we should be playing on grass. Hands down, we should be on grass. And that’s all I’m going to say.”
There was plenty more to say, but Kupp’s conviction was more than enough to get his point across. At the time, a handful of notable players had recently sustained significant knee injuries while playing on turf.
Three years later and not much has changed. About half of the NFL stadiums still play on turf and there have been no signs of potentially changing to grass in the near future. MetLife Stadium continues to be a house of horror for players, who dread competing at the Giants’ and Jets’ home venue, where star receiver Malik Nabers sustained a season-ending knee injury last month. And just last week Packers running back Josh Jacobs injured his knee while his team visited the Giants, though it seems Jacobs avoided a long-term injury.
Even some natural grass fields have caused problems due to lackluster maintenance, with players recently complaining about the conditions at Acrisure Stadium, the home of the Steelers.
Now NFL players are angrier than ever after seeing how much of a priority it is for Real Madrid to maintain its grass field. The iconic soccer club shared a viral video of how its high-tech system transformed the field into a glowing American football meadow for last week’s matchup between the Dolphins and Commanders in the first ever NFL game in Spain.
Let’s look at some of the hot topics around the league, including NFL players potentially using some leverage to take a stand against turf fields.
It’s time for NFL players to aggressively push to remove turf fields
Enough is enough. It’s time for players to push back against NFL owners, who should be embarrassed about how little they care about the playing conditions they provide for guys who have helped them make billions.
Money can’t be an issue when eight NFL franchises are worth more than Real Madrid, which was worth $6.6 billion, according to Forbes’ 2024 list of the most valuable sports franchises around the world. Twenty-nine out of 32 NFL teams were in the top 50. Expect more of the same when the ’25 rankings are published.
Instead of the NFL owners simply suggesting they’ll at least think about going away from turf, especially with the FIFA World Cup coming to the U.S. next year, the billionaires are more worried about their grades with the NFLPA’s annual report cards. They’re embarrassed about that, but instead of improving their grades, they’re aiming to get rid of the report cards so they’ll stop being exposed about how poorly they treat players on and off the field.
I’m not sure what the right approach is for the players to get well-kept grass fields in every stadium, but they do have some leverage with the NFL pushing for an 18-game season, another area where player safety is overlooked. Extending the NFL season a few years after going to a 17-game schedule should be a nonstarter until the cheap owners dig into their pockets and do exactly what Real Madrid and many other international soccer clubs do to maintain grass fields.
Heck, maybe give draft picks to the NFL owners who have the best grass fields. It seems the only time NFL owners want to do the right thing is when they get extra draft picks. And that’s all I’m going to say, to take a line from Kupp.
Manzano’s view: Fact
