TAMPA, Fla — Following the Achilles injury suffered by Aaron Rodgers in his New York Jets debut, the debate about playing on natural grass or artificial turf was reignited.
ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska went to the campus of the University of Tampa, where the school has a combination of real grass and artificial turf.
The men's baseball field and lacrosse and intramural fields are artificial. The women's softball field is grass along with their soccer field.
"When it comes to a sport like soccer, natural turf is ideal," Scott Brickett, Assistant Athletic Director of Sports Medicine at the University of Tampa, told Paluska.
Following Rodgers' injury, superstars in the NFL came out supporting both playing fields.
"I think it's pretty simple: the numbers say grass is healthier for the players. I want to play on the best surface that will keep me healthy," Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes said.
"I think the (artificial) turf gives you a reliable field all the time," Eli Manning said.
Brickett said it's a lot more complicated than that.
"What you'll find is there is a slight increase in foot and ankle injuries for artificial turf. And again, that's largely what we call heterogeneous data, meaning that not all things are equal. There's different footwear, there's different conditions of weather and different sports. So a lot of things play a role in those injuries," Brickett said. "But there doesn't seem to be any difference in the amount of knee or hip injuries. So, it seems to be localized to the foot and ankle. And it's not conclusive at all."
The last part is important because there isn't enough data from research to point to one field as safer than the other.
But still, the NFL Players Association's new executive director, Lloyd Howell, called on the league to change all its field surfaces to natural grass following Rodgers' season-ending injury.
There might be historical bias when it comes to artificial turf.
"I wouldn't say it's just because of Aaron Rodgers. But I think football players generally feel more comfortable on natural grass," Brickett said. "And when you feel more comfortable, it's the same thing with, they feel more comfortable in the certain shoulder pads, they feel more comfortable in a certain helmet. There's resistance to change. And I think that, especially if something has gotten a bad name, it's difficult to get out of that bad name. So those early generations of artificial turf created a difficult situation for this new generation of turfs."
Fake grass was made famous in 1996 when the Astrodome installed AstroTurf.
According to the Bullock Texas State History Museum, "When the Astrodome opened in Houston in 1965 with natural grass turf, the roof was covered with clear Lucite panels, similar to a greenhouse's. When Astros players began losing fly balls against the backdrop of steel girders and sunshine, the Dome's ceiling was painted black. The lack of light killed the field's grass. In 1966, the Astros turned to the Monsanto company's new product, ChemGrass, an artificial playing surface. Due to the limited supply of the new product, only the infield was installed before the Astros's April home opener; the outfield was installed in early summer while the Astros were on an extended road trip. Its success inside the Dome led the company to rebrand its product as AstroTurf."
"That was a different type of artificial turf or sports turf with that stuff absolutely, there was a lot more friction, and that led to a lot more injuries," Brickett said with the newer generations of artificial turf. That's not as true anymore. It's more like natural grass. And it's meant to resemble it, told to give a lot more. There's meant to be a lot more forgiveness in it. So, it's very similar. Obviously, it's not perfect, but it is extremely similar, especially when discussing dry conditions. The infill they put into it now is a combination of sand, coconut husk, and sometimes rubber, depending on what brand you use, which is very similar to running in natural gas."
During an interview with ESPN, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that player safety remains a focus for the league and noted that the turf-grass debate remains a "complex issue" that the NFL will continue to address with the union.
Although six MLS teams play their home matches on artificial turf, all games at the 2026 World Cup will be played on natural grass. In the NFL, 17 of the 32 NFL franchises play on an artificial surface of one form or another.
Howell also questioned why NFL team owners plan to do that for the 2026 World Cup but not their players.
"While we know there is an investment to making this change, there is a bigger cost to everyone in our business if we keep losing our best players to unnecessary injuries," Howell said. "It makes no sense that stadiums can flip over to superior grass surfaces when the World Cup comes, or soccer clubs come to visit for exhibition games in the summer, but inferior artificial surfaces are acceptable for our own players. This is worth the investment, and it simply needs to change now."
