On Tuesday, the Tennessee Titans announced that Nissan Stadium will be switching to an artificial turf, a change that will take place immediately.
According to Jim Wyatt of Titans Online, Tennessee will switch from the natural grass surface it currently has to an artificial turf, with one of the major goals being to help avoid injuries.
In more recent years, after player/coach concerns, an increase in injuries, and persistent issues with the undependable surface, the Titans amped up their research with data to determine the best, and safest, plan moving forward. Looking at statistics from the 2018-2021 NFL seasons, Nissan Stadium had higher lower extremity injuries than each of the monofilament synthetic turfs in the league.
The conclusion: Putting in a new, cutting-edge field turf that will be installed in time for the 2023 season.
The project – replacing the grass with monofilament, Matrix Helix Turf with organic infill – will provide players with a consistent playing experience year-round. This fall, Nissan Stadium will become the first NFL stadium with the technology of a synthetic turf system that incorporates organic infill.
The surface is similar to the one the Titans practice on when indoors at Saint Thomas Sports Park, Wyatt added. Here’s what head coach Mike Vrabel had to say about the change.
“There is nothing more important than the health and safety of our players,” Vrabel said. “We’ve had a lot of issues [with the grass at Nissan Stadium] after a certain part of the season. It’s hard to grow grass. It gets slick. We put new turf down, we try and put new sod down and it’s slick, you see guys slipping. Those are real things that I’ve witnessed over my time here. Our grass surface is not on the level of some of the other grass surfaces [across the NFL]. At the beginning of the year, summer, training camp, early season, I can see it being very consistent. But as the season wears on, and the weather changes, there is a noticeable difference in performance of the field.
“We added this product inside the bubble and … the response has been very positive, very favorable to that surface to the new technology that continues to come out. Just witnessing our practices inside and how they feel and how they respond on that product. … We’re excited to be able to add this product to our stadium.”
Playing surface has been a hot topic of conversation around the NFL in recent years.
The NFLPA has been calling for more grass fields instead of the turf, with the belief that grass fields don’t see as many injuries as the artificial surfaces do. However, a study done by the NFL showed there was no discernible difference between the two when it comes to injuries.
Whatever the case may be, the Titans have been the most injured team in the NFL the past two seasons with grass, so it doesn’t hurt to try something new.
