Field turf is cheap enough for our high schools with zero money to install because it costs nothing to maintain and according to the info I saw as an administrator, it paid for itself in 5 years. If a high school can absorb that kind of money, then an NFL team certainly can. Of course they'd likely replace it more than every five years, but now that there are several manufacturers the price has come way down.
There should be a rule in that if your field is not a reasonably playable surface, then the game is moved to the opponent's stadium if the field is better. I'm not saying that because it would have benefited Seattle. I think it should apply to Seattle too. If the field turf were ripped up and had dents in it and standing water and so on and just wasn't safe to play and they were playing say... the Vikings, then you move the game to Minnesota where it is indoors, they also have field turf, but they take care of it, etc.
Other sports give the ref the option of halting the game and sending everybody home. They do it in baseball for obvious reason (slipper clay infields and lightning and inability to see a 125 mph projectile due to rain), but they also can have the FIFA official in consultation with others pull teams off a soccer pitch that is dangerous (and no... snow usually won't do it, it is typically when they lay natural turf over fake turf for FIFA rules satisfaction and the field looks EXACTLY like Fedex field because of it as the grass has nothing to root to but plywood and tarp!). They do it in the NBA, specifically when there is condensation from ice hockey rinks underneath, they also did it when the floor was buckling at an arena because of the poor condition of the court and condensation issues and the underneath ice and heat in the arena causing the floor to warp, bend, buckle, etc. They also do the same for hockey if the ice is soft and you start seeing meltwater on top.
The NFL should have warned the Redskins last year that they needed to have an alternate plan in place in case of a home playoff game, because their field was bad at the end of the season each of the last two years, and in the playoffs due to additional drop in temp and more games on it, it will obviously be worse!
I say that they make them install a drawer/shelf like they have in Arizona. If your natural grass is unplayable, then you have to roll in the field turf shelf which is stored in the parking lot and is rolled into the stadium. Those are their choices. Go to field turf, or have a second field turf field waiting and entirely redesign your stadium to be able to slide a full 120 yard field into place on a moment's notice over the top if the referees, league, and coaches agree it's an unplayable surface. I am sure just going full time field turf wouldn't sound so bad if it came to the AZ idea. Haha.
The only other option I can think of is doing the soccer thing I mentioned. I've actually seen it work, and it worked in Seattle. They put down plywood and tarps and then a layer of topsoil. Then they truck sod in as long of rolls as they can get (to limit breakage and such and to add heft to it) and they bring it up from a turf farm down in the south and lay it over the existing playing surface and it typically lasts ok for a few days. If you get it in by midweek and use a high quality heavy turf, then it is typically much more playable than many surfaces, but only for a single game. It's expensive, but those are the breaks. I saw them do it in Salt Lake where the Utah Utes play and the field didn't have one issue. No slipping, sliding, etc. I also saw it installed in Portland for a soccer game over their astroturf baseball field (at the time) and it was an absolute hurricane style torrential downpour and the sod held up great. No chunks came flying up (well, small chunks did, but no whole rolls of turf moved at all). And this was with guys running full speed on it, shifting, sliding, changing direction, kicking, etc. It worked out just terrifically. They do put a bed of sand and such below, so it plays quite a bit like field turf, but it isn't a permanent installation so you can pull it back up and then throw it down over your current field and hope it takes root shortly if they are getting another game a week or two down the road.
