I like the pitch

[FrodosFinger]

New owner needs to implement grass over field turf. After watching a soccer game yesterday on our field it swayed my mind in the direction of natural grass. Make it happen!! Go Hawks!!

 

[Timberhawk]

As I recall most players prefer grass because of injury prevention, increased recovery speed and traction. Owners like turf because it makes it easier to host other events like concerts and costs less overall to maintain etc.

For the NFL with their billions I would think they could handle the increased cost especially if “safety” is their top priority.

 

[SocialParasite]

Anytime I hear players prefer grass over turf, my mind goes back to that 2012 playoff game Seattle played at FedEx Field, and how horrible that field looked. You would constantly see chunks of grass & dirt flung up in the air. RG3 & Chris Clemons both suffered serious injuries in that game, multiple players criticized the playing field.

While a properly maintained grass field is probably better than turf, it raises some questions, such as:

Can a grass field be deemed "unsafe for play" and how bad do the field conditions have to be in order to do so?

What is the league doing to make sure each team is compliant with safety standards concerning field conditions?

Etc...

The fact that the field conditions were that bad for Washington, and players were still allowed to play on it, and predictably suffer injuries because of it...that gives me pause.

 

[oldhawkfan]

It seems to me that with the move to “field turf” away from “artificial turf”, which was just glorified carpet, the injuries have lessened a bit. I have no evidence to back that up but I wouldn’t mind seeing some actual studies on injuries over time for the three different types of turf. If grass is better, make it so. Same for field turf.

 

[SeahawkSteve80]

Grass is easy to maintain this time of year in Seattle. Come November onwards, not so much

 

[RiverDog]

Anytime I hear players prefer grass over turf, my mind goes back to that 2012 playoff game Seattle played at FedEx Field, and how horrible that field looked. You would constantly see chunks of grass & dirt flung up in the air. RG3 & Chris Clemons both suffered serious injuries in that game, multiple players criticized the playing field.

While a properly maintained grass field is probably better than turf, it raises some questions, such as:

Can a grass field be deemed "unsafe for play" and how bad do the field conditions have to be in order to do so?

What is the league doing to make sure each team is compliant with safety standards concerning field conditions?

Etc...

The fact that the field conditions were that bad for Washington, and players were still allowed to play on it, and predictably suffer injuries because of it...that gives me pause.

You can add Adrian Peterson's name to the list of FedEx Field injuries.

They've come full circle on playing surfaces. It used to be that an artificial surface was thought to be more safe than natural grass. As a matter of fact, when our current stadium first opened, it was originally supposed to have a natural grass surface. Indeed, natural grass was stipulated in the proposition when the state voted on the issue.

But Mike Holmgren and the Seahawks were so impressed with the next generation Field Turf that Paul Allen bought for UW's stadium, which was serving as a temporary home for the Hawks while the new stadium was being built. that they insisted that the new stadium have Field Turf installed as a playing surface.

 

[seabowl]

Field Surface Type and Season-Ending Lower Extremity Injury in NFL Players - PMC

There is growing concern over the safety of artificial turf when it comes to the incidence of player injuries. The artificial surfaces can withstand more play, are cheaper to maintain, and are more predictable. However, there is concern that this ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

This article from the NLM, National library of medicine NIH National Institute of health tells the truth that there is no significant difference between grass and artificial turf fields for lower leg extremity injuries. They looked at every NFL game from the 2020, 2021, and 2022 seasons. It is perceived that there are more injuries on turf but in reality that is because there are more games played on turf.

Here’s the conclusion from the article:

Our results show that, while season-ending lower extremity injuries are more common on artificial turf, the difference is not statistically significant when accounting for the increased amount of play seen by this surface. Variation occurs between all surfaces, even of the same type, artificial or natural.

 

[IndyHawk]

I'd get the concerns if it was astroturf, which the Kingdome had, tech has
changed a lot since then, field turf is fine these days, players will always get
hurt, there is no perfect surface that delivers injury free play.

 

[RehireMora]

If it's not the Kingdome concrete with a little fuzz, I am not watching

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Yeah, Logan Gilbert was money yesterday.