NFL players advocate for natural grass playing surfaces after World Cup: ‘Worth the cost’

The New York Times ^ | July 17, 2026 | Saad Yousuf

[MinorityRepublican]

As the World Cup winds down ahead of Sunday’s final, NFL players are taking to social media to express their desire to play on the type of natural grass fields the tournament used throughout the summer.

Players across the league this week attached the hashtag “WorthTheCost” to posts asking why grass fields were used in World Cup games played in NFL stadiums, while they aren’t afforded the same surfaces in many of those same venues. Among the players who posted the hashtag on Friday: Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, Washington Commanders tackle Laremy Tunsil, Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Patrick Queen and New York Jets defensive lineman Harrison Phillips. Numerous other players added additional comments in their messages.

“If stadiums can make grass work for the World Cup, they can make it work for NFL players,” multiple NFL players posted on X. “We’re #WorthTheCost.”

Reached by The Athletic, the NFL Players Association pointed back to a statement the union put out in mid-June as the World Cup was set to begin.

“The temporary installation of natural grass fields for the World Cup is a choice by certain NFL team owners to do for soccer players what they refuse to do for NFL players,” the NFLPA said in a statement on June 10. “It’s no longer a question of capability: the technology exists, the expertise exists and the resources exist to install the high-level grass fields that our players overwhelmingly prefer.

“We have seen the meaningful investments made to meet the standard for international athletes and global events. NFL players — who regularly compete on these fields, help fund these stadiums, and whose work makes the league what it is today — deserve the same commitment to quality grass fields.”

[dfwgator]

What a great game that was.

[dfwgator]

[moviefan8]

The players should have bargained for playing on grass fields in their contract.

[T.B. Yoits]

I've played sports on a grass field in the fall. It was either dirt and pebbles with the ensuing dust clouds, frozen solid with tripping hazards from frozen footprints, or just mud.

I watched soccer shots on goal stop dead in the mud from the friction. It was so ghetto. It really was.

[T.B. Yoits]

The players should have bargained for playing on grass fields in their contract.

The players will say one thing for a survey but chose otherwise when faced with a severe drop in pay for the costs of stadiums dedicated solely to football and the cost of maintaining grass fields.

[Dr. Sivana]

Games such as the December 26th 1977 NFC Playoff "Mud Bowl" in Minneapolis helped push the league to switch the Astro Turf. And they're not going back either; sweat, blood, and spit in the mud are completely unsanitary.

I am a Rams fan, and remember too well that game. You see, usually in that era, the Rams were the visiting team, and Minnesota had a huge advantage playing outdoors on frozen natural grass. The Rams seemed to routinely have field goals blocked in the conditions.

So, looking forward to a home game in sunny California, until mud slides ruined the normal grass field. That field never froze, so your suggestions about injuries from ridges wouldn't apply there. The Rams quarterback, Pat Haden was short, and he played poorly sinking in the mud.

That game had NOTHING to do with the move to Astroturf, which began years earlier. The Rams moved to Anaheim not mainly for the turf, but for a stadium in better shape. Domes at that time pretty much had to have turf. The Cardinals have a removeable tray of grass and a retractable roof. The movement for the last several decades has been to grass wherever there is not a sealed dome. The Cards solution is expensive, but worth it when there are $200+ million dollars of bodies on the field.

It is called Astroturf, because the grass planted in the original domed stadium, the Astrodome, died. Astroturf was the quicky remedy that stuck. It became popular for the multipurpose stadiums popular in the '60s and '70s, so the same surface could be used for football, baseball, conventions, rock concerts, religious rallies, etc. It was also MUCH cheaper to maintain. Players weren't paid nearly so much, so in most cases, the extra injuries attributed to the Astroturf was worth it to the owners financially.

Now, the turf HAS improved since the original carpet on concrete, but players still prefer natural grass (Field Turf and its successors). Turf toe is still a thing, too.

[jerod]

Blaming the playing surface for injuries is complete nonsense... NFL players get injured on turf and on natural grass... Because it’s a violent sport.

Soccer isn’t a violent sport. It’s a sport for pansies. If you don’t want to play in the NFL because you might stub your toe I have a suggestion... Get a real job at a Burger King, or a KFC.

[KitJ]

Goodell is a sphincter with arms and legs.

[fso301]

There was a time when you could have grass, or indoor stadiums but not both.

Now, with modern LED lighting, you can have grass indoors but I assume if you have grass indoors, doing so will take away other revenue generating uses of the surface when the turf is rolled back at the end of the season.

[doggieboy]

The game was played in Los Angeles, not Minneapolis.

[IndyTiger]

At the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium they used to paint the dirt green when the field was too torn up.

[sphinx]

There’s a simple solution. Play all NFL games outdoors on natural turf fields. Good luck with upkeep over a long season in a sport that is inherently tougher on the grass than soccer with seasons that extend well beyond grass growing season.

Bringing sod into a domed stadium for a couple of games is not the same thing as maintaining a field over a long season.

But I’m ok if the NFL wants to go for it. I miss the old fashioned mud bowls. If they want to get into the businessof resodding the whole field every few weeks, fine. The NFL could just add ten more tv timeouts to every game, if the tv networks will let them. The tv people would be all in favor of the tv timeouts, but four hour games might mess up the rest of the schedule.

[waredbird]

Why can’t I get natural grass? All I get is natural weeds.

[KarlInOhio]

How about a hybrid of Kentucky Bluegrass, Featherbed Bent and Northern California Sinsemilla? Or is the Carl Spackler blend only good for golf?

[woodbutcher1963]

The domed stadium in Phoenix has a real grass field that goes in and out on a track.
It goes out to grow in the sun and gets irritated.
Then cut and rolled back in to play the game inside.
Especially when outside is over 100 degrees.

[Ex-Con777]

The total NFL player payroll is $9.6 Billion.

The cost of a sod field in a domed stadium is $20 Million with an annual maintenance cost of $1-5 Million. It costs $1-2 Million to convert from artificial to natural grass per stadium.

The players have a point. They also have deep pockets.

EC

[wardaddy]

Rim

[wardaddy]

When I was a youngster and cared about sports more since I played them

Everything was grass except Houston astrodome which was turf

Hence astroturf

Go back to natural

[discostu]

It’s the 21st century. Making grass gown in any weather ain’t hard. Meanwhile all form as turf are, and that causes injuries. The players are right, the league should ban the fake stuff. With all the rules they’ve got trying to avoid injury, why not this one?

[discostu]

Because FIFA won’t let any of their officially sanctioned games be played on anything but grass. It’s right there the contract.