NFL cites player safety in plan to bring every stadium’s playing surface up to enhanced standards

As the debate over NFL playing surfaces continues, the league introduced a plan that aims to bring more consistency to all stadiums.The new enhanced standards will have to be met by 2028, according to the NFL, and will be set through lab and field testing.Nick Pappas, an NFL field director, shared some details about the plans for the program rollout.Each team will be provided with “a library of approved and accredited NFL fields” before the 2026 season begins. Any new field will immediately have to meet those standards, and all teams will have two years to achieve them. Both grass and synthetic turf fields will be subject to the new standards.CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMMost artificial surfaces are replaced every two or three years, Pappas said. Natural fields can have a shorter usage span and are often replaced several times during a single season.2025 NFL WEEK 14 BUZZ: COMMANDERS GET QB JAYDEN DANIELS BACK VS. VIKINGSPappas added that the fields will have undergone extensive testing and been approved by a joint committee with the NFLPA. “It’s sort of a red, yellow, green effect, where we’re obviously trying to phase out fields that we have determined to be less ideal than newer fields coming into the industry,” he said.”This is a big step for us. This is something that I think has been a great outcome from the Joint Surfaces Committee of the work, the deployment and development of devices determining the appropriate metrics and ultimately providing us with…

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