As the World Cup winds down with Sunday’s championship game between Argentina and Spain, questions about why NFL stadiums that hosted soccer games could temporarily remove artificial turf for natural grass can’t also do it for pro football games continue.
The Raiders don’t have such an issue as they have played on natural grass at Allegiant Stadium since their 2020 arrival, largely due to team owner Mark Davis’ commitment. When planning the new venue, Davis modeled the Arizona Cardinals’ State Farm Stadium, where a movable field allows for natural grass.
“It was number one (having grass),” Davis told the Review-Journal. “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 that you knew a football game was played. So, it was very important to me that we had grass.”
That commitment came with a substantial investment to add a massive field tray that moves the natural grass field into and out of the stadium for natural light. The field tray weighs 19 million pounds and sits outside when it’s not in use to allow for the grass to get needed sunlight and is moved inside, via 72 motors, to have the surface in place for Raiders home games.
The field tray is set for an update in the coming years to ensure it remains structurally sound and functional for the long term.
Leading up to and during the World Cup, the NFL Players Association has made it clear that it wants its players to play on natural grass and not turf. The NFLPA said 92 percent of NFL players it polled prefer to play on natural grass as opposed to a synthetic field.
Multiple stadiums, including SoFi Stadium in Southern California, that hosted World Cup games temporarily swapped out artificial turf normally used for the NFL for natural grass for the soccer matches, as mandated by FIFA. Those fields will go back to artificial grass ahead of the 2026 NFL season kicking off in August with preseason games.
“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 in June said.
The World Cup final is being played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, which is the home to the New York Giants and Jets. The artificial turf at the 16-year-old stadium is known to be one of the harshest in the NFL, with the stadium replacing the type of artificial turf surface used there in 2023, after a rash of injuries and concerns raised by players.
Multiple NFL players have spoken out about their preference to play on real grass, including San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle.
“We know it’s better on our bodies,” Kittle said in an Instagram post this summer. “And clearly, we know it’s possible based on everything that went into putting down grass fields for the World Cup in each stadium. At this point, it comes down to the NFL making it a priority and choosing to invest in us as players, because our bodies are our business, which they get to capitalize on.”
Davis doesn’t necessarily see his decision to include natural grass at Allegiant Stadium as validation for the NFLPA’s push to see grass added in other stadiums with artificial turf.
“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 issue is likely to be one of the topics included in the next round of collective bargaining negotiations. The current collective bargaining agreement runs through March 2031, with a new agreement needing to be in place before the start of the NFL season that year.
Dominic Lavoie contributed reporting to this story.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
