For $11.9 Million, NFL Could Save Maybe $1 Billion With Grass Fields Instead Of Artificial Ones

If 14 of the NFL’s 30 stadiums have artificial surfaces, and if the league mandates they switch to grass like the others, the Associated Press reported the cost for each one would be “roughly $500,000 for demolition, new rock underlayment and irrigation (drainage could be reused) and another $350,000 for lay-and-play sod.”

Let’s see.

That’s $850,000 overall.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Associated Press added that “cold-weather teams, including those playing indoors, would be lucky if the new grass lasted a month before needing to be resoled,” but let’s stick with the big picture.

If you multiply that $850,000 by 14 — which is the number of NFL stadiums with artificial surfaces — it would cost the NFL approximately $11.9 million overall to go completely grass throughout the league. The average NFL owner has that amount in petty cash. In addition, unlike the mid-1960s, when the Astrodome made its debut in Houston as the eighth wonder of the world yet could not find a way to grow grass under its roof, Arizona and Las Vegas have grass fields that they roll from inside their domes outside in the sun between games.

Grass is friendlier than artificial surfaces to the bodies of NFL players, but particularly the head — as where the most damage is done through Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), as in more lawsuits waiting to happen for league officials if they don’t dig into their pockets sooner rather than later for that $11.9 million (and whatever it takes to do the resodding, blah, blah, blah).

“I do think it’s time to go all grass throughout the league,” Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers told the Associated Press this week, and the 10-time Pro Bowler has played in every NFL stadium except Las Vegas. When the wire service asked Rodgers, if he thought league officials would actually get rid of artificial surfaces, he added, “No, honestly. I don’t have a lot of confidence when it comes to the league making that decision without some sort of big vote and gripes from certain owners who don’t want to spend the money. … This would be putting your money where your mouth is if player safety is important.”

So, $11.9 million versus $1 billion. I’m thinking the NFL would prefer to pay $11.9 million.

As for the $1 billion, that’s how much former NFL players received overall after they won a concussion lawsuit against the league. The last payments were issued in July, and with a league that made a record $18 billion in 2021 and looks to increase that to $25 million by 2027, I’m guessing NFL bosses would rather use that revenue on things other than the settlement of more CTE cases.

Now about future legal action involving CTE: Since the Associated Press cited a slew of NFL players attributing their injuries — particularly severe ones — to blocking, tackling, running and crashing against fake grass around the league sitting on concrete with padding, well, you get the picture.

Inflation isn’t exactly dying. As a result, the NFL’s previous $1 billion lawsuit over concussions would resemble an old K-Mart special compared to the amount of a future lawsuit involving the head effects of playing on artificial surfaces. This would make such a lawsuit worse for NFL honchos: They couldn’t say they were clueless to the situation, because the warnings kept coming, ranging from NFL Players Association President JC Tretter to those interviewed by the Associated Press.

“I’m getting slammed on the concrete. It doesn’t feel good,” Jacksonville Jaguars safety Rayshawn Jenkins told the Associated Press.

Then there was this from Carolina Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble who saw teammate Donte Jackson tear his Achilles tendon in November in Charlotte, where it was a grass field until FieldTurf was installed for the 2021 season. “Guys get terrible injuries from that stuff,” Tremble said. “I get the usability of it, but this is a billion-dollar business, and I think where we should put the money in should be for the players because if we got grass fields and can keep playing, the money keeps rolling in. You see star guys go down all the time because of it.”

Did I mention $11.9 million would be a bargain?