The 2026 World Cup has interestingly created a real problem for the NFL.
No, soccer isn’t going to overtake football and become the most popular sport in America. World Cup fans are absolutely eating up the action (no one more than a German soccer fan named Freddy), so it’s not out of the realm of imagination for this soccer craze to stick. But that’s not why the NFL is uncomfortably tugging at their collar.
It’s actually the grass that’s put them in a bit of trouble.
For years, the NFL Players Association has pushed for the league to switch all playing fields from artificial turf to actual grass. There have been a number of studies conducted that show various advantages of grass over turf, including but not limited to a lesser number of lower extremity injuries and decreased environmental impact.
As far as which stadiums have grass and which don’t, it’s actually split right down the middle. Sixteen NFL teams play on artificial turf, while the other 16 have natural grass fields. Many players who play – and have been injured – on artificial turf have requested that the NFL mandate grass fields across the league.
Interestingly enough, the National Football League, which brings in over $20 billion in revenue each year, hasn’t made that a priority.
That is until the 2026 World Cup came to North America, and football stadiums across the country – like in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia Seattle and the San Francisco Bay area – have been transformed into football stadiums for the competition. Every stadium that has artificial turf had real grass fields laid down ahead of the World Cup… which begs the question, “If they can make it happen for the World Cup, why can’t they make it work for the NFL?”
That’s at least how San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle sees it, and he released a statement through the NFLPA implying that the NFL could make player safety a priority if they really wanted to:
“We’ve made it clear that we prefer grass fields. We know it’s better on our bodies. And clearly, we know it’s possible based on everything that went into putting down grass field 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!”
And if anyone knows about suffering from lower leg injuries while playing on artificial turf, it’s George Kittle.
It’ll be interesting to see how the NFL responds, if they do at all. Players have been asking for all grass fields for years, so despite the call out from Kittle and the NFLPA, things could very well stay the same. However, this 2026 World Cup definitely showed that stadiums could pull off grass fields if they really wanted to… and that might act as the “star witness” for the NFLPA and their fight to get all stadiums switched over from turf to grass.
