Why does the NFL keep investing in German football fields?
Hello World,
With the NFL's International Series of games winding down, it's time to look back on it. Overall, I'd say it was very successful, especially after the disaster that was last year when the Seattle Seahawks took on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where the field was super slippery leading to an uproar from players and fans about how it may have cost the Seahawks the game. The field was so beat up that Bayern Munich needed to fully replace the field once the NFL left town, likely costing the NFL close to $1M.
This led to the NFL investing another million into the installation of hybrid grass in Germany. Hybrid grass uses 90% real grass and 10% synthetic turf which is woven in to help with durability. This grass is already installed in some stadiums throughout the US like Green Bay and Philadelphia.
With that being said why isn't the NFL mandating this league wide? We have seen for years players deal with injuries due to the turf fields and complaining about how it is unsafe. It wouldn't even be that expensive as reports indicate it could cost as little as $12M, but the league continues to refuse to do it.
Owners are constantly against this as they say the maintenance of real grass is too expensive. However reports estimate that it only costs $20K a year to maintain real grass, compared to the $5K it takes to maintain the turf. Although these numbers are staggering to you and I, to these franchises that is nothing.
As the NFL continues to expand and with many of the stadiums needing to conform to FIFA's grass rules for the 2026 World Cup, it is likely it won't be long before owners need to cave in and do the right thing!