By Rory Carroll
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (Reuters) – The knee injury Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.’s suffered in Sunday’s Super Bowl when his foot got caught on the artificial turf field has increased calls for the NFL to mandate grass fields only.
Of the 32 teams in the NFL, 16 teams still play on artificial turf, including the Rams and Chargers at their shared home, the $5.5 billion SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.
The non-contact injury to Beckham’s left knee, which some fear could be a torn ACL, led to an outcry on social media.
“Turf should be banned,” San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel tweeted during the game, which the Rams won 23-20 as Beckham looked on from the sidelines.
“The NFL needs to make it a mandatory rule that every team should have grass instead of turf,” tweeted Las Vegas Raiders guard Jermaine Eluemunor.
“Turf is trash.”
A group called “Flip the Turf” says turf is far more dangerous for players.
Turf fields lead to 32% more non-contact knee injuries and 69% more non-contact foot and ankle injuries, the group said, citing NFL injury data collected from 2012 to 2018.
Turf can get up to 60 degrees hotter than natural grass, increasing the rate at which toxic gases are released and ingested, according to a Columbia University study, and 90% of NFL players believe artificial turf will shorten their careers.
Turf is also worse for the environment, according to Flip the Turf.
It can’t be recycled in the United States, leading to an estimated 330 million pounds of landfill waste each year, and microplastics in water and irrigation systems, the group said in its petition on Change.org.
“Unlike grass, turf does not cool the environment,” the group said.
“It does not filter air and water pollutants. It does not fix carbon dioxide or release oxygen. Turf has zero climate benefits.”
The NFL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
