Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams leading the charge as NFL players send a unified message to owners about a needed change
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams took part in the growing social media trend with NFL players sending a unified message about the grass vs. turf debate.
Several NFL players started making a stand on social media regarding the grass vs. turf debate and Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams joined in on the movement on Friday.
The grass vs. turf debate in NFL stadiums has been a heavily criticized battle for years. Currently, half of the league’s official stadiums have grass fields while the other half have turf fields. While there isn’t enough data to suggest which playing field is safer in terms of injuries, 92 percent of NFL players noted they prefer to play on grass fields according to a recent NFLPA survey.
However, the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell have not made things as simple as it could be when it comes to rolling out grass fields at all 30 NFL stadiums. It’s a conversation got even louder among the players after this year’s World Cup.
World Cup has reignited the grass vs. turf debate among top NFL stars, including Caleb Williams
This year’s World Cup was held at 16 stadiums across North America including 11 NFL stadiums in the United States. The issue for the league is that FIFA required all stadiums hosting World Cup matches to install grass fields, which occurred at seven of those NFL stadiums that traditionally use synthetic turf.
Once the World Cup is over, those seven stadiums plan to go back to using synthetic turf, and that’s where the NFL players really got offended. Several NFL stars, including Williams, took to social media posting the hashtag “WorthTheCost” and Williams’ picture also included the message “Why can’t we have this too?”
“Yeah, guys are going to be frustrated,” NFLPA executive director JC Tretter said, via ESPN. “That will be a frustrating moment a few months from now where they see how quickly they roll back out the turf field in place of it.”
Those frustrations are starting to take place earlier than expected and amongst some of the biggest stars in the league. In reality, it’s a complicated problem for the NFL and nothing something that will be addressed or implemented anytime soon.
It is however, something for the Bears to consider when it comes to the preferences of their biggest star and the team’s upcoming new stadium project. Currently, Soldier Field is one of the 15 stadiums still using grass fields. Time will tell if that remains the case when the team’s new stadium is built.
And who knows, by that point NFL players might finally get their wish and have grass fields become a league-wide permanent requirement, regardless of the economics.