$2bn NFL owner breaks silence to name key factor in turf vs grass debate magnified by World Cup

As America welcomed the the arrival of people from all over the globe for the 2026 World Cup, NFL players were talking about one thing – grass.

With 11 of FIFA‘s chosen host venues for the World Cup being stadiums primarily used for the NFL, seven of those had to make changes to their playing surfaces by installing natural grass surfaces.

Getty

This was to comply with FIFA’s regulations, and included AT&T Stadium in Dallas, SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, and NRG Stadium in Houston.

These stadiums instead use artificial grass for the duration of an NFL season, much to the dismay of the majority of players, who have long been lobbying for permanent changes to grass.

San Francisco 49ers star tight end George Kittle was in attendance at the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina on Sunday at the ‘hideous’ MetLife Stadium, where he took the time to post about the playing surface afforded to soccer superstars like Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal.

“Grass still looks great! Let’s use grass instead of turf @NFL !! Please? Thanks guys!” Kittle posted to X, alongside a selfie.

According to a vote by the NFL Players’ Association (NFLPA), 92 per cent of players would prefer to play on natural grass, citing their primary belief that turf is a huge risk factor for long-term injuries.

“The temporary installation of natural grass fields for the World Cup is a choice by certain NFL owners to do for soccer players that they refuse to do for NFL players,” an NFLPA statement back in June said.

Nonetheless, now that the World Cup has officially concluded, stadiums are wasting no time in removing the natural grass surfaces and reverting back to the cheaper alternative in turf.

This has led to many players including Kittle, Caleb Williams, and Jonathan Taylor to voice their campaign for change on social media platform X with the hashtag #WorthTheCost.

For Las Vegas Raiders majority owner Mark Davis, though, having a natural grass surface was a non-negotiable priority when constructing Allegiant Stadium – which was not used as a World Cup venue this summer.

“It was number one (having grass),” Davis said, via the Las Vegas Review Journal, on Saturday.

Getty

Getty

“There was no way I was going to build the stadium or anything else to play on artificial turf.

“I just always felt that the safety issue, number one, and I grew up around football and the grass and mud and the smell of those uniforms after the game.”

Allegiant Stadium, which opened in 2020, adopted a similar approach to that of State Farm Stadium, home to the Arizona Cardinals, in ensuring that their field was able to be easily moved from the outside into the stadium.

Using state-of-the-art innovation, the field is on a tray which can be moved in and out of the domed arena to allow it to receive natural light.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the field tray weights 19 million pounds and is moved inside using 72 motors for Raiders home games.

The rest of the time it sits outside to have access to as much sunlight and natural elements as possible.

However, Davis doesn’t necessarily believe that just because he made the choice as an owner to have a natural grass playing surface for his players to play on week in-week out that all other NFL owners should feel compelled to follow suit.

“I’m not sure if that value validates any of that, to be real honest,” Davis said. “I just know what it was that what we were going to.”

The players’ fight continues on, with the whole grass vs turf debate likely to be one of the most debated topics included in the next round of collective bargaining negotiations that needs to be put in place before the start of the 2031 campaign.

Stay up to date on all things NFL across our talkSPORT platforms – subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest news, opinion, exclusive interviews and our daily unfiltered, unscripted show ‘The S* Word, from 8am ET.