[JAFF]

Why the Colts won't switch to grass at Lucas Oil Stadium despite increase in injuries

INDIANAPOLIS — Every time Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin plays at Lucas Oil Stadium, it sends a message through his body.

“When you plant, it's shockwaves,” Franklin said of 60 minutes of planting and cutting on the slit-film turf that he mentioned sits squarely on top of a pad of concrete. “And some of them talk back, you know; the turf talks back, and it doesn't feel good. You feel a difference now. Your cuts and stuff might be a certain way on turf, but that grass has just been good for a long time.

“You can feel a difference in your body though, I even talked to the coaches. When we're practicing and they're standing on the sideline their body feels different, whether we practice on turf or grass, and they're not even running. So, if that's happening to them, and they're just watching, what do you think is happening to us?"


Playing surfaces have been a point of contention between the NFL and NFL Players Association for years. It moved up in prominence when New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles four snaps into the opener on the MetLife Stadium turf, home of the New York Giants and Jets, knocking him out of the 2023 season.

It's been a long-standing issue for the Colts. Man Games Lost NFL found the Colts to be the second-most injured team between 2009-22, just behind the Giants. Indianapolis has had just over 3,000 games lost because of player injuries in that span, roughly 500 more than the average NFL team, according to the site's data. That means the Colts are missing the equivalent of more than two full seasons — 36 games — of two players per season over the average team.


Football is, of course, a violent game and there are always going to be injuries. But players across the league believe that artificial turf makes injuries more likely, especially to the lower leg as players change directions quickly. There is data that supports this belief, with the silt-film turf at Lucas Oil Stadium considered the least forgiving surface. That turf will be replaced with the safer monofilament turf after this season; the Colts said they did not consider a grass field.

Many teams, including the Colts, practice on grass though they play most of their games on turf.

“I think if you polled every player in the NFL, no one feels good if they play a game on turf,” Colts center and NFLPA representative Ryan Kelly said. “They practice on grass every day. Turn around, play the game on turf. You can say what you want about the (Aaron) Rodgers injury, and a lot of injuries, and I do think that guys feel like dog(expletive) after they play on turf. So, that's my stance on it.”

Slit-film vs. monofilament vs. grass

According to research done by the NFLPA between 2012-18, there was a 28% higher rate of lower-extremity, non-contact injuries on artificial turf compared to natural grass, including a 32% higher rate of knee injuries and 69% higher rate of foot or ankle injuries.

According to NBC, 15 NFL stadiums use artificial turf, including three of the four AFC South teams: the Colts, Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans, who changed from grass ahead of this season. The Jacksonville Jaguars have natural grass.



"Moving all stadium fields to high quality natural grass surfaces is the easiest decision the NFL can make," NFLPA Executive Director Lloyd Howell said in a statement. "The players overwhelmingly prefer it and the data is clear that grass is simply safer than artificial turf. It is an issue that has been near the top of players' lists during my team visits and one I have raised with the NFL.

"While we know there is an investment to making this change, there is a bigger cost to everyone in our business if we keep losing our best players to unnecessary injuries.”

Such a change, however, would almost certainly have to be collectively bargained by the league and the NFLPA.

Soccer's English Premier League, home of some of the highest paid athletes in the world, plays on natural grass exclusively because of league rules. Lucas Oil Stadium temporarily installed a grass field when Chelsea and Inter Milan played there in 2013, as is common when soccer teams play at turf stadiums in the United States.

"I think Lloyd Howell is going to do a great job," Kelly said. "I think he hears the players concerns. If they can change the turf out for soccer players to come in and play a soccer game on one time — you're losing a ton of money with Aaron Rodgers not being on the field. I think the majority of NFL teams practice on grass and then go and play on turf, gotta make you scratch your head a little bit."

More:The second-most interesting thing at Lucas Oil Stadium on Thursday? Try watching grass grow

Zach Binney, an assistant professor of quantitative theory and methods at Emory University, found through research conducted with analyst Aaron Schatz between 2018-21 that the slit-film turf surface at Lucas Oil Stadium is associated with about a 7% increase of lower-body injuries that led to missing at least one game. His research found there was no major difference to injuries between monofilament-style turf and natural grass.

The NFLPA has an issue with the slit-film turf Indianapolis uses, which is a thicker style of turf blade that can be pulled apart into smaller blades, according to ATX Turf. The slit-film turf blades will fray over the years and contribute to a flatter surface and faster ball movement. Monofilament turf has thinner, singular blades that will not pull apart. These blades will stand up straighter than slit-film turf and have a slower ball movement. The NFLPA said in November 2022 that, at the very least, it is demanding teams change from slit-film to monofilament turf to decrease the chance of injuries.



Safer turf for Lucas Oil Stadium

Indianapolis' Capital Improvement Board announced in August that it would change the turf starting in the 2024-25 season. The current turf will be ripped out of Lucas Oil Stadium in March to make way for an Olympic-sized pool for the 2024 U.S Olympic Swimming Trials, and it will be replaced with a monofilament-style turf.

“The Capital Improvement Board of Managers of Marion County approved a $1.2 million contract with Hellas Construction for installation of Hellas Matrix Turf,” Monica Brase, public information officer and marketing manager for the Indiana Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium, said in a statement to IndyStar. “The old (current) turf will be removed in March 2024 in advance of the US Olympic Swimming Trials and new turf will be installed starting in July 2024."

Multiple teams use the Hellas Matrix Turf that will be installed in Lucas Oil Stadium, including the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, and Los Angeles Rams and Chargers.

Question the questioners:Join IndyStar Colts Insiders Oct. 11 to discuss the team

Indianapolis Colts Chief Operating Officer Pete Ward said grass was not really considered to replace the current slit-film turf. While the Colts considered making Lucas Oil Stadium an outdoor stadium in 2008, the franchise said it was not conducive to their non-football stadium plans.

“The health and safety of our players will always be a priority,” Ward said in a statement to IndyStar. “We have to consider what is realistic for Lucas Oil Stadium however, and switching to natural grass would present major obstacles for our venue. The decision to install a new turf surface in the summer of 2024 was made with player safety and performance in mind. Before Lucas Oil Stadium, we discussed internally a grass, outdoor stadium, but the multi-use aspect ruled out an outdoor field.”

Lucas Oil Stadium will host a variety of events that will require elaborate changes, including the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials, marching band competitions and concerts, including Taylor Swift, George Strait, and Morgan Wallen. NFL teams — and their cities — benefit from a turf field, which is cheaper and easier to maintain when hosting a variety of events.

More:How USA Swimming will put a pool in Lucas Oil Stadium for the Olympic Trials

As the Premier League demonstrates, however, it is possible to sustain a grass field in a dome, albeit more expensively. A report from Fox 9 in Minneapolis said it would cost U.S. Bank Stadium — an enclosed, domed field similar to Lucas Oil Stadium — $4 million to $5 million per year to maintain a natural grass field. Domed stadiums, especially those in the northern part of the U.S. with waning sunlight in winter, would need to not only install grow lights to help maintain the grass, but possibly switch out the natural grass field entirely every few weeks.

In a perfect world, the NFLPA wants teams to go to grass everywhere. But that isn’t realistic, sports business and legal analyst Andrew Brandt, a former player agent and vice-president of the Green Bay Pacers, said on his podcast, “The Business of Sports.” Front Office Sports projects that it would cost the NFL nearly $12 million to switch all turf surfaces to grass, not including the increased maintenance costs.

"Is it safer on grass? I would think so, sure," Brandt said. "Are owners going to change to grass? No. No, OK? If you haven't learned anything about the business of sports, and I would think the NFLPA and the players of course know this, the owners are not doing anything because it's the right thing to do, they're not doing anything out of the kindness of their hearts. The owners are not going to change fields at a significant cost just because. If that was the case, that would've happened a long time ago.”