The NFL has been exposed to some worrying data pertaining to the use of turf surfaces.
The turf vs. grass debate is an ongoing one and it’s intensified in 2023. While NFL players want to play on grass surfaces, the league prefers to allow teams to field players on artificial surfaces as long as they want to.
On Tuesday night, HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel discussed the situation, pointing out that the use of surf surfaces has trickled down to the high school level and is responsible for an injury “epidemic.”
This hasn’t been the case in the pros. However, a league source in the know has told ProFootballTalk that the data on injuries that occurred on turf fields last season was “awful.”
The Numbers Don’t Look Good
The league’s chief medical officer, Allen Sills, admitted that the “numbers weren’t good” during this week’s ownership meetings in Minnesota, though he did not get into specifics. The owners didn’t ask for details either.
PFT claims to have approached the league with the aim of obtaining the data but two separate emails have been ignored.
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The source was quoted as saying that league office representatives are “experts at confusing the 26 owners who don’t pay attention,” adding that the NFL will “gloss” over the differences between injury risk on real grass and on fake grass.
