Pros And Cons Of Artificial Turf At The Astrodome

The National Football League is a billion-dollar industry that’s been around for 154 years. Football has grown into one of the most beloved sports in the world. Technological advances come with the passage of time, and football is no stranger to these groundbreaking feats. Artificial turf fields have made a notorious rise in all levels of football and it comes with contrasting opinions from many people heavily involved in the game. With the change, there are always those who also support what came before. Grass fields are on the opposite side of the spectrum, and they come with just as much support from professionals. Both having pros and cons, it's clear that this topic is one that many people can form logic-based opinions on and give evidence

As time went on, these fields became more prominent. In the present day, there are a total of 15 American football fields that use turf. For whatever reason these stadiums were switched to turf or built with it preinstalled, it was met with mixed emotions. Many of the football purists at the time were skeptical of its performance during games. They believed that players would be prone to injury due to the hard surface putting more pressure on their joints. AstroTurf was the first type of artificial turf that graced the football world. With as many people who weren’t in favor of the new fields, there was a good amount of people who thought these fields would be the future of football. For example, these fields benefit the team owner greatly. Turf didn’t require as much maintenance as grass. This in turn saved the team a lot more money. Artificial turf is also more durable than grass. Withstanding vigorous use for longer periods. Owners tend to put saving money over the physical well-being of the players. This is just one of the reasons that players are fighting against further implementation of turf. The National Football League Players Association took some time to

On average, NFL players create around 1,650 pounds of force when planting, pivoting, and taking off their stance. The human body can withstand around three to four times its body weight. Now apply this to the NFL. According to NFL Football Operations, each game is about 153 plays. If we consider, in a perfect world, that half of these plays are defense and the other is offense, we can conclude that each player plays around 76-77 plays per game. This is 75+ times that these incredible amounts of pressure are applied to the lower joints such as the knees. With artificial turf, the surface doesn’t allow players to displace the energy they create as much as natural grass does. Players refer to this as grass having the ability to “give” when they make an athletic movement. This ability to “give” helps distribute more energy on the ground. This energy being displaced more equally helps combat more non-contact injuries. The NFLPA shared that players have a 28% higher rate of non-contact lower extremity injuries when playing on turf. 32% have a higher rate of non-contact knee injuries on turf and a shocking 69% higher rate of non-contact foot and ankle injuries on turf compared to