For Josh Allen, the grass is most definitely greener across the street.
As the Buffalo Bills moved closer to their first regular-season game Thursday in their new Highmark Stadium, the quarterback looked forward to not having to deal with the added wear and tear his body previously experienced playing on the artificial turf of the teams now-demolished old facility.
“Ive gotten numerous, numerous burns on my legs from artificial turf, to the point I cant sleep at night because its bubbling over. Its very painful,” Allen said, noting he still feels it after the Bills practice on the turf inside their fieldhouse. “If I could snap my fingers and make every field grass, thats what I would do for sure.”
The new Bills stadium and Allens comments reflect an increasingly heated debate in the league over whether teams should play on artificial turf or natural grass. It follows a World Cup in which tournament organizers mandated converting seven NFL stadiums from turf to grass, only to switch back to artificial surfaces for the pro football season.
NFL players and their union overwhelmingly favor natural grass and are perplexed about why the leagues billionaire owners cant do what FIFA did for the World Cup.
“Its a little bizarre, but what can you expect?” 49ers defensive lineman Nick Bosa said.
As with most debates, its about money. Though the NFL does not provide cost figures, it’s widely accepted that artificial turf is much more affordable than grass, which requires year-round maintenance and constant resodding. NFL grass fields generally have a lifespan of about seven events.
Artificial fields also require some maintenance to replace infill, and generally have a lifespan of between three to seven years.
That still doesn’t square with players, even as the NFL continues trending toward artificial surfaces.
“Natural grass isnt out of reach. Prioritizing players shouldnt be either!” Colts running back Jonathan Taylor posted on his X account with the hashtag “WorthTheCost.”
With Buffalo, 16 of the NFLs 30 facilities will feature grass this season, including Green Bays Lambeau Field, which is made up of 95% grass and reinforced with polyethylene fibers.
Of the 18 NFL facilities built since 2000, 11 have artificial surfaces, and those don’t include Carolina and Tennessee, which recently made the switch to turf. Cost and maintenance appear to play more of a factor than geography, with six of the NFLs seven coldest markets and all three Florida-based teams featuring grass surfaces.
Where there is consensus is that NFL playing surfaces are far more advanced today than 50 years ago when several teams, starting with the Houston Oilers, played on AstroTurf â essentially a thinly padded carpet laid over concrete or asphalt.
Nick Pappas, the NFLs director of field surfaces, said the advancements in turf technology are night and day since the AstroTurf era. The focus now, he said, is the NFL and NFLPA working with all turf manufacturers to establish standards for surfaces based on player feedback and metrics from testing conducted by the league.
This led to the league and union jointly releasing a series of standardized playing surface requirements each facility must meet by 2028. The list of criteria covering both playing and practice surfaces includes minimum standards for impact, traction, and guidelines for when to resurface.
The objective
