NFL cites player safety in plan to bring every stadium’s playing surface up to enhanced standards
As the debate over NFL playing surfaces continues the league introduced a plan that aims to bring more consistency to all stadiums The new enhanced standards will have to be met by according to the NFL and will be set through lab and field testing Nick Pappas an NFL field director shared chosen details about the plans for the project rollout Each squad will be provided with a library of approved and accredited NFL fields before the season begins Any new field will directly have to meet those standards and all teams will have two years to achieve them Both grass and synthetic turf fields will be subject to the new standards CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS COMMost artificial surfaces are replaced every two or three years Pappas stated Natural fields can have a shorter usage span and are often replaced several times during a single season NFL WEEK BUZZ COMMANDERS GET QB JAYDEN DANIELS BACK VS VIKINGSPappas added that the fields will have undergone extensive testing and been approved by a joint committee with the NFLPA It s sort of a red yellow green effect where we re obviously trying to phase out fields that we have determined to be less ideal than newer fields coming into the industry he disclosed This is a big step for us This is something that I think has been a great outcome from the Joint Surfaces Committee of the work the deployment and enhancement of devices determining the appropriate metrics and ultimately providing us with a way to substantiate the quality of fields more so than we ever have in the past Pappas announced fields have been tested in labs and on site using two main tools One is called the BEAST which is a traction testing device that replicates the movements of an NFL member The other is called the STRIKE Impact Tester which helps determine the firmness of each field The league's goal is to find fields that are as consistent as achievable for all NFL stadiums and at each stadium throughout the season Pappas reported the key pillars for a field are optimized playability reducing injury threat and performer feedback The NFL has no plans to require natural grass fields The league s chief diagnostic officer Dr Allen Sills declared there are no statistically crucial differences in lower extremity injuries or concussions that can be attributed to the type of playing surface or a specific surface despite widespread preferences by players for grass fields and complaints about surfaces such as the one at MetLife Stadium where the New York Giants and Jets play The surface is only one driver of these lower extremity injuries Sills stated There are a lot of other factors including athlete load and previous history and fatigue positional adaptability and cleats that are worn So surfaces are a component but it is a complex equation The natural grass field for the upcoming Super Bowl at Levi s Stadium in Santa Clara California has been growing at a sod farm located a couple hours east of the Bay Area The Associated Press contributed to this summary Follow Fox News Digital s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter
