Professional football players are paying close attention to the field conditions being provided for World Cup soccer matches, particularly the installation of natural grass surfaces.
JC Tretter, who leads the NFL Players Association as executive director, has observed that seven venues hosting NFL teams are temporarily replacing their synthetic turf with natural grass for the international soccer tournament beginning next month.
These same facilities will revert to their artificial playing surfaces when football season kicks off in September.
“What we want is good grass fields. Good, solid fields,” Tretter stated during a recent appearance on the “Not Just Football” podcast with Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward. “You don’t just want to pull out the (municipal) golf course grass. On every field, you want high-quality surfaces.”
“If you ask every player that we polled, 1,700 players, 92% say they want grass over turf. There is something about the feeling of being on grass, the body feels different. I think if you ask the coaches, just standing on grass vs. standing on turf for three hours feels different. There is something there that impacts the body,” he explained.
The international soccer governing body FIFA mandates natural grass for World Cup competitions. This requirement has prompted surface changes at venues in East Rutherford N.J. (New York Giants, New York Jets), Arlington, Texas (Dallas Cowboys), Foxborough, Mass. (New England Patriots), Seattle (Seahawks), Houston (Texans), Inglewood, Calif. (Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers) and Atlanta (Falcons).
The championship match will take place at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19.
“You look at FIFA, they’re rolling out the green carpet for soccer players. And that has become the norm,” Tretter observed. “Over in European leagues, that is what you do. You play on grass. They have surface standards that each thing is rolled out. It’s exactly how it’s supposed to be. And those players will not play if it’s not that.”
When the current NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement reaches its expiration in March 2031, Tretter confirmed that field surfaces will be a topic of discussion between the players union and the league.
