NFLPA taking issue with playing surfaces

[Mr. Scot]

From Albert Breer...

I think everyone needs to listen to NFLPA president J.C. Tretter on the conditions of NFL playing surfaces, because it’s increasingly becoming a problem. Here’s what the ex-Browns center said, in the aftermath of Saturday’s Bears-Chiefs game taking place on a less-than-ideal patch of grass at Soldier Field: “The NFL said that this field met minimum testing standards. We clearly need to re-evaluate what is an acceptable surface for players to compete on. We need new testing metrics looking at the performance and safety of every field. The NFL can and should do better.”

Now, I’m not going to pretend to know whether the conditions in Chicago this week were or were not acceptable. What I do know is I’ve heard about these sorts of issues over and over again from players. The great majority of guys don’t like playing on FieldTurf. And the grass surfaces in Northern climates look like crap way more often than they should. To me, this comes down to, as is the case with so many other things in the NFL, money. Teams are trying to cram more and more events into these stadiums to justify their cost, and that means either teams are going to the artificial surface or they’re letting the natural surfaces take a beating. What I do know is that it seems like the Packers are the one team that has it figured out—using a hybrid natural surface that’s woven together, and somehow withstands the Wisconsin winter. The problem is that the system, which is widely used for the pitches in Premier League soccer, is expensive and takes a lot of upkeep. The Packers don’t have an owner to answer to for that. The other 31 teams do. And maybe this is just me, but that doesn’t seem like a good enough reason not to give elite athletes the highest-level surface possible to run around on. Especially when the cost for not doing it, paid by those athletes, can be so high.

MMQB

[PanthersGTI]

I'm with them on this one. The give the players the best field possible, so we can see the best product possible for as long as possible. It sounds like everyone should be doing the Packers approach. 

[KSpan]

I couldn't believe how bad the surface looked in Chicago considering that the season hasn't even started yet. About the only one I can think of worse was Philly in 2001 when Baltimore flat out refused to play. 

[Actionman0z]

If this is a thing it should be made mandatory, and the NFL should pay for it.