The NFL and NFL Players Association have agreed to implement a new system for selecting playing surfaces at each team’s home stadium in an effort to enhance player safety.
Under the agreement, each NFL team will be required to select a playing surface from an approved list of both natural and synthetic surfaces. The policy will apply to any teams that plan to replace their fields for the 2026 season, and all teams are required to have approved fields by the beginning of the 2028 season.
All fields approved by the NFL and NFLPA have undergone testing both in labs and on-site using two tools: BEAST and Strike Impact Tester, according to NFL Field Director Nick Pappas.
BEAST — Biocore Elite Athlete Shoe Turf Tester — is a traction testing device that mimics how NFL player move during gameplay to measure field traction, according to NFL Operations. STRIKE Impact Tester, meanwhile, replicates the pressure points a player feels when hitting a playing surface.
The NFL’s new policy on playing surfaces is the league’s latest effort towards ensuring a consistent and safe playing field across all stadiums.
“It’s sort of a red, yellow, green effect, where we’re obviously trying to phase out fields that we have determined to be less ideal than newer fields coming into the industry,” Pappas said Thursday. “This is a big step for us. This is something that I think has been a great outcome from the Joint Service Committee, all the work, the deployment and development of devices, determining the appropriate metrics and ultimately, providing us with a way to substantiate the quality of fields more so than we ever have in the past.”
The NFLPA also issued a statement applauding the league’s efforts to improve the quality and consistency of each stadium’s playing surface. The NFL has 30 stadiums for its 32 teams, with the New York Giants and New York Jets sharing MetLife Field in New Jersey and the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers sharing SoFi Stadium in LA.
“While our player members have been clear about their overwhelming preference for high-quality, natural grass surfaces, we’re encouraged that their demands for more consistent and safer fields across the board are taking a step in the right direction,” the NFLPA wrote in a post to X. “We look forward to continuing this work with the NFL on behalf of our player members.”
As the NFLPA mentioned, NFL players have previously been outspoken about their desire to play on a grass playing surface as opposed to a turf field, which some data points to causing more injuries.