NFL professionals have been asking for safer, high-quality grass fields for ages. Compared to playing on slightly harder turf, playing on grass comes with fewer health risks and encourages players to perform better. Well, it might be a placebo, but everyone has felt it. And NFLPA’s JC Tretter has put an interesting point forward. 

The NFLPA, under the leadership of JC Tretter, shared the extracts from his appearance on ‘Not Just Football Podcast with Cam Heyward’ on X and wrote, “Our players deserve workplaces that prioritize their preference, protect them against the weekly wear and tear of the game, and support their long-term health and performance.”

But with the 2026 FIFA World Cup coming to NFL stadiums, the authorities are putting up fresh grass for the soccer players. Seattle’s Lumen Field is swapping the FieldTurf CORE for natural grass; Dallas’ AT&T Stadium is also following the same change to host nine World Cup games. A total of nine stadiums will install fresh, soft, high-quality grass for the FIFA World Cup. 

Many would think that the change is good. NFL players might finally get their awaited switch from turf to grass. But soon after the World Cup is over, most of the stadiums will bounce back to the turf fields for the regular NFL season. 

Advocating the demand for grass fields, Tretter said, “I think one thing is understanding what our players care about, and there’s something there that the data hasn’t been able to spit back out at us. Which, if you ask every player we polled, 1700 players, 92% say they want grass over turf. There is something about the feeling of being on grass. Your body feels different. I think if you ask the coaches, just standing on grass versus standing on turf for three hours feels different. There is something there that impacts the body.”

To make things worse, the stadium owners also host several other events, including concerts and monster truck rallies. These events further damage the ground and leave the players complaining without any actions. 

“Those are all things that the owners make money off,” Tretter continued. “The players don’t make money off. So, the idea of ‘Hey, we’re going to host these events; that means we have to put a worse surface on there for you, and you don’t actually get any of that money for those events that we’re hosting. [It] isn’t a great thing for players either.” 

But aren’t the turfs approved by the regulatory authorities? What makes them so frowned upon? 

JC Tretter explains why turf negatively affects the athletes

JC Tretter has personally experienced the shortcomings and dangers of turf during his stint as a center. And he also saw his teammates and fellow players complain about the same. This led him to conduct a study and give a scientific explanation to the argument. 

“First, a bit of physics: Professional football players put extremely high levels of force and rotation onto the playing surface,” Tretter wrote. “Grass will eventually give, which often releases the cleat prior to reaching an injurious load. On synthetic surfaces, there is less give, meaning our feet, ankles, and knees absorb the force, which makes injury more likely to follow.” 

Tretter backed his claims with data from 2012 to 2018. It revealed that there was a 28% higher rate of non-contact lower-extremity injuries on turf than on grass. Within that category, 32% belonged to knee injuries on turf, and 69% higher rate went to foot and ankle injuries. 

Dion Dawkins also had a similar opinion. Talking to USA TODAY Sports, he argued that grass is a natural surface while turf isn’t. He related the mishaps on turf with rubbing on sandpaper. He also claimed that the feet often get caught in the seams of the turf while holding back the defenders. But grass breaks under such pressure. 

The union’s message didn’t explicitly accuse the league of negligence, but it did raise an uncomfortable question. If infrastructure solutions exist for international soccer, why do NFL players still find themselves fighting this battle? 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR