Is Turf A Bad Thing?
Turf fields have become very popular and they’re replacing the practical grass fields.15 teams in the NFL use Turf. Turf is artificial grass and is supposed to be performance-enhancing but there might be more negatives than positives. In the SportsVenueCalculator they compare the cost between Turf and grass fields, to install a turf field it costs about “$750,000 to $1,350,000, depending on the size of the field and the features of the sports facility. The cost will vary depending on the product quality and the factors mentioned above.” For a grass field, it costs about 400,000-820,000. To remove a turf field costs approximately 620,000-1,159,000 which they have to remove every 10 years. In those 10 years, the cost of everything is 1,170,000-2,070,000 while grass only costs 730,000-1,560,000. One benefit to turf fields is they bring in more money and are quicker to pay off than grass fields. Turf fields bring in about 420,000 in revenue and only take about 3-5 years to pay off, while grass fields only bring in about 120,000 per year and take about 6-13 years.
Turf fields have also led to more injuries on average “That research found 16% more injuries per play on artificial turf than grass. The authors concluded that if all games had been played on grass during that period there would have been 319 fewer foot and leg injuries. Looking only at non-contact injuries the risk was even higher, about 20% more injuries per play.” That is a substantial amount of more injuries and a lot of these injuries are season-ending injuries like tearing something in the knee which some players can never come back from. Just recently a Buffalo Bills linebacker Matt Milano broke his leg and tore something in his knee at the same time which is forcing him to have surgery and end his season who knows if he will ever be the same? In the same game, an unnamed Buffalo Bills veteran said angrily “We came all the way over to London to play on (bleeping) cement?” The bills already had to travel all the way to London so it was just another hardship for them to overcome when they felt like the turf was cement. Is it fair to the players to play on the turf when they’re worried about their safety and football is already a dangerous sport?
