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Tremendous Bowl LVIII might be performed on a pure grass area in an indoor stadium in Las Vegas on February 11, 2024. How do you retain a grass area vibrant in such a hostile rising surroundings just like the Nevada desert?
The reply: You don’t. By the tip of the common NFL season, paint was used to camouflage the truth that only some scant patches of grass remained in Allegiant Stadium, house to the Las Vegas Raiders. Instantly after the Raiders’ final sport on January 7, 2024, the sphere crew ripped up the remaining grass, put in California-grown sod over three days, and started the tedious means of conserving the grass alive lengthy sufficient for the massive sport.
Herculean efforts to organize a vibrant pure grass area for 2024’s Tremendous Bowl LVIII are particularly questionable when one realizes that Allegiant Stadium additionally has an synthetic turf enjoying floor out there (utilized by UNLV Soccer). Why don’t groups in hostile environments change to extra sturdy synthetic turf, which is designed to beat the various limitations of pure grass fields?
The reply lies in a debate over the protection of artificial enjoying surfaces. Whereas synthetic turf producers tout analysis that their merchandise lead to fewer accidents, the NFL Gamers Affiliation (NFLPA) claims it raises damage danger and is advocating for its use to be abolished within the NFL. Let’s discover some key arguments of this debate, which continues to seize headlines with every high-profile NFL damage.
Tremendous Bowl gridirons
Stress for NFL area managers is very excessive following the embarrassingly poor area circumstances of final yr’s Tremendous Bowl. Tremendous Bowl LVII passed off at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona—one other pure grass area within the desert (with a retractable roof, closed at night time to shield the grass). Regardless of two years of preparation and an $800,000 funding, the grass area was a catastrophe, as gamers struggled to search out footing on its slippery floor.
Veteran NFL groundskeeper George Toma attributed the mess to woefully improper area preparation. Gamers additionally complained in regards to the slipping subject the earlier time the Tremendous Bowl was hosted on the pure grass area in State Farm Stadium eight years prior for Tremendous Bowl XLIX in 2015. That yr, the poor traction was blamed on the inexperienced paint used on the grass.
For perspective, among the greatest sports activities area managers within the nation oversee area preparations for the Tremendous Bowl. Nonetheless, sustaining pure grass in desert circumstances is so unfavorable (particularly when the grass is typically indoors) that even one of the best can mess it up.
None of those points existed when the Tremendous Bowl was final performed on synthetic turf. Tremendous Bowl LVI in 2022 was held at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, house to each the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers. Not solely did the factitious turf stand as much as double the workload in the course of the common season (internet hosting house video games for the LA Rams and the LA Chargers), however it additionally withstood a busy playoff season. The substitute turf area at SoFi Stadium hosted NFL video games by way of the common season and proper as much as the final playoff sport when the LA Rams beat the San Francisco 49ers. Two weeks later, the Rams ended up successful Tremendous Bowl LVI on the exact same floor.
Whereas turf avoids the sturdiness points seen with grass surfaces, gamers have widespread considerations about its security—a latest ballot by the NFLPA reported 92 p.c of gamers favored grass.