SportsTurf

April 2011

SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.

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Facility&Operations | Survey 2010 NFLPA Playing Surfaces Opinion Survey  N O MATTER WHICH SIDE YOU TAKE on the current labor situation in the National Football League, or if like most people you just shake your head over egos that can’t divide up $9 billion, we can all agree on one thing—results of the annual play- ing surface opinion survey the players’ union conducts sure are interesting! The survey was conducted by the NFLPA at team meetings during September through November 2010. A total of 1619 active NFL Players from all 32 teams voluntarily participated. Here are selected results from the latest version: Which surface do you think is more likely to contribute to injury? Grass 15.9% Artificial Infilled 82.4% Which surface do you think causes more soreness and fatigue to play on? Grass 9.2% Artificial Infilled 89.1% Which surface do you think is more likely to shorten your career? Grass 7.6% Artificial Infilled 89.7% What type of field do you prefer to play on? Grass 69.4% Artificial Infilled 14.3% No preference 9% How significant a role do you believe NFL grounds keepers play in the per- formance of NFL grass playing surfaces? 75% say “very significant” How significant a role do you believe NFL grounds keepers play in the per- formance of NFL artificial infilled playing surfaces? 23.7% say “very significant” How much do you value your grounds crew's work on your practice fields? 73.3% say “strongly value” MOST RE-OCCURRING COMMENTS Artificial turf is much harder on the 28 SportsTurf | April 2011 body with joint soreness and makes for tougher work. Southern grass fields are the best. Fields that are used for baseball and football leave hard infield that is difficult to play on. When you have one foot on grass and one in hard dirt, injuries are bound to happen. If it's grass, enough of the high schools, colleges and concerts playing on it the day before. If it's a cold weather grass field, these fields are battered to heck. The grounds crew can only do so much. We need a league wide standard/regula- tion policy for every field if the NFL really cares about the safety of all players. SUGGESTED CHANGES FOR IMPROVEMENT Artificial surfaces should be required in cold weather cities. We need better practice fields. Level and eliminate holes, divots and uneven ground. Cold weather grass teams should have road trips late in the season to avoid play- ing on frozen surfaces. There should be no games played on grass fields the same weekend as another event. Even [placement] of rubber material is needed, specifically comfortable give in twists and turns and level in height with no bumps. Every stadium should be evaluated properly every week prior to game day. If it's a multi-purpose stadium, man- date that it's artificial. If only one team [uses] then it can be grass. Force Chicago and Pittsburgh to go turf. More time and money need to be spent on the fields. College surfaces are better. Use softer bermuda grass with sand. No more non updated artificial turf that is hard and over filled with ground up rubber and cheap top layer grass that you can pull off like a cheap toupee like Kansas City. ■  Best/Worst Best Grass Playing Field 1 ARIZONA CARDINALS: University of Phoenix Stadium 2 TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: Raymond James Stadium 3 SAN DIEGO CHARGERS: Qualcomm Stadium 4 CAROLINA PANTHERS: Bank of America Stadium 5 GREEN BAY PACKERS: Lambeau Field 6 MIAMI DOLPHINS: Sun Life Stadium 7 HOUSTON TEXANS: Reliant Stadium 8 JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS: Everbank Field 9 DENVER BRONCOS: Invesco Field at Mile High 10 TENNESSEE TITANS: LP Field 11 WASHINGTON REDSKINS: FEDEX Field 12 SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS: Candlestick Park 13 KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: Arrowhead Stadium 14 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: Lincoln Financial Field 15 PITTSBURGH STEELERS: Heinz Field 16 CLEVELAND BROWNS: Cleveland Browns Stadium 17 CHICAGO BEARS: Soldier Field 18 OAKLAND RAIDERS: Oakland Coliseum Worst Grass Playing Field 1 PITTSBURGH STEELERS: Heinz Field 2 OAKLAND RAIDERS: Oakland Coliseum 3 CHICAGO BEARS: Soldier Field 4 MIAMI DOLPHINS: Sun Life Stadium 5 CLEVELAND BROWNS: Cleveland Browns Stadium 6 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES: Lincoln Financial Field 7 GREEN BAY PACKERS: Lambeau Field 8 KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: Arrowhead Stadium 9 TENNESSEE TITANS: LP Field 9 SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS: Candlestick Park 11 HOUSTON TEXANS: Reliant Stadium 12 CAROLINA PANTHERS: Bank of America Stadium 13 JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS: Everbank Field 14 TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS: Raymond James Stadium 15 SAN DIEGO CHARGERS: Qualcomm Stadium 16 WASHINGTON REDSKINS: FEDEX Field 17 DENVER BRONCOS: Invesco Field at Mile High 18 ARIZONA CARDINALS: University of Phoenix Stadium Best Artificial Infilled Playing Field 1 INDIANAPOLIS COLTS: Lucas Oil Stadium 2 NEW YORK JETS/GIANTS: New Meadowlands Stadium 3 NEW ORLEANS SAINTS: Louisiana Superdome 4 SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: Qwest Field 5 DALLAS COWBOYS: Cowboys Stadium 6 ATLANTA FALCONS: Georgia Dome 7 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: Gillette Stadium 8 DETROIT LIONS: Ford Field 8 BALTIMORE RAVENS: M&T Bank Stadium 9 ST.LOUIS RAMS: Edward Jones Dome 10 CINCINNATI BENGALS: Paul Brown Stadium 11 MINNESOTA VIKINGS: Metrodome 12 BUFFALO BILLS: Ralph Wilson Stadium Worst Artificial Infilled Playing Field 1 MINNESOTA VIKINGS: Metrodome 2 BUFFALO BILLS: Ralph Wilson Stadium 3 ST. LOUIS RAMS: Edward Jones Dome 4 CINCINNATI BENGALS: Paul Brown Stadium 5 NEW YORK JETS/GIANTS: New Meadowlands Stadium 6 ATLANTA FALCONS: Georgia Dome 7 DETROIT LIONS: Ford Field 8 NEW ORLEANS SAINTS: Louisiana Superdome 9 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: Gillette Stadium 10 INDIANAPOLIS COLTS: Lucas Oil Stadium 11 BALTIMORE RAVENS: M&T Bank Stadium 12 SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: Qwest Field 13 DALLAS COWBOYS: Cowboys Stadium www.sportsturfonline.com

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