The NFLPA continues to push for the elimination of artificial turf fields in the NFL, but continues to fall on deaf ears with the league. No agreement is expected in the near future.

Discussions over the differences between natural and artificial turf in the NFL are entering a new round. In a report posted on its website by the NFLPA players’ union, union president J.C. Tretter pointed out that injury rates were lower on natural grass between 2012 and 2020. Only in 2021, he said, were the numbers largely the same.

The NFL used this fact to launch “a PR campaign to convince everyone that the problem doesn’t exist,” as Tretter explains. The NFL, he says, is not following the long-term data, which is clear on this issue. Rather, it should “listen to the players and make the game safer.”

Jeff Miller, executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy for the NFL, said in a statement released Thursday that there are no easy answers to this discussion.

Fronts between league and NFLPA are considered hardened

“The NFL and NFLPA have access to the same information about injuries, which is gathered by independent experts and shared in meetings of the ‘Joint Field Surface Safety and Performance Committee’ mandated by the CBA,” Miller is quoted as saying in a statement. “The committee, including NFLPA experts, believes that playing on natural turf is not the answer to this complex challenge. Some artificial turf fields have a lower injury rate than some grass fields – and some grass fields have a lower injury rate than some artificial turf fields. “

He said everyone’s goal is to reduce the number of injuries. That’s why, he said, they are determined to work with the players and their expert advisors to intensively debate solutions.

Many players had called in the past for artificial turf fields to be eliminated in the NFL. Superstar wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. is considered an ardent advocate of this demand and made his opinion clear in recent years.

GET RID OF TURF.

– Odell Beckham Jr (@obj) November 24, 2022

Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, disagrees with the superstar: “Our league stats don’t see any problems with the type of surface we have, as opposed to natural grass. We don’t see any problems. There are no facts to back that up.”

The fronts between the league and the NFLPA are considered to be hardened, and a timely agreement seems unlikely.