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The NFL Players Association took notice.
After video surfaced on X of a grass field being installed at MetLife Stadium ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup, the NFLPA had a telling response.
“Looks nice 🧐…,” the official NFLPA account posted. “#SaferFields.”
The Giants’ and Jets’ use of artificial turf at MetLife stadium has long been a point of contention among players due to the higher rate of injuries on the surface, and it reached a boiling point when Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles on the field in 2024.
FIFA requires real grass to be used to comply with its regulations, and MetLife Stadium is one of the venues for the Club World Cup, which is taking place across America.
NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell said last year that 92 percent of players preferred grass fields over turf.
“It’s really basic,” Howell said last year. “It’s not rocket science. Ninety-two percent of our union wants grass. That’s compelling. The bottom line is, it’s unquestionable that our union wants to have a working condition where they play on grass.”
Despite the willingness to install a grass field for other sports, Giants owner John Mara has maintained that it would not be sustainable for football, given two teams play at the stadium, the weather and the large amount of events at the stadium.
“I want to get to the point where the experts can tell us that late in the season we can have a safe, playable grass field, and when we get to that point, then maybe we’ll make the switch,” Mara said at last year’s NFL owners meetings. “We’re not there yet.
“With the amount of events in our building, particularly during the football season, having two teams there, and how many times last year we had back-to-back games where it rained during the first game, I can’t imagine what a grass field would’ve looked like on a second day.”
Jets owner Woody Johnson last year said he and Mara regularly discuss the idea of using grass fields for football.
MetLife Stadium will also host 2026 FIFA World Cup games, including the final.
Grass fields will be needed next summer as well.
“That type of grass [for soccer] is not fit for football,” Mara said last year. “It’s a completely different type of surface. They’re more concerned with how the ball bounces as opposed to anything else. It’ll be a temporary grass field that goes down, and that’s great in June and July. No matter how many times you change it out, and we tried this back in ’99 to 2001 with the [natural grass field] trays and stuff, it was not a pretty sight in December and January. Again, I think we can get there some day. I just am not satisfied that we’re there yet.”
