Titans announce huge change to Nissan Stadium for 2023
The Tennessee Titans have announced that Nissan Stadium will transition to a monofilament, synthetic turf playing field for the 2023 season. Since 1999 when the stadium was built, Nissan Stadium has had a natural grass playing surface. But as the team has begun to pile up injuries in recent seasons, the inconsistent field conditions late […]
The Tennessee Titans have announced that Nissan Stadium will transition to a monofilament, synthetic turf playing field for the 2023 season.
Since 1999 when the stadium was built, Nissan Stadium has had a natural grass playing surface. But as the team has begun to pile up injuries in recent seasons, the inconsistent field conditions late in the year have now pushed the team to make the switch to turf.
According to a release from the team on Tuesday, "careful review of both injury data and the growth patterns of natural grass in the region led the team to the decision."
The organization received data from the NFL that showed more lower body injuries had been occurring at Nissan Stadium that on turf fields around the league in recent years. It was likely a big factor in the Titans being one of football's most injured teams in 2021 and 2022.
Titans head coach Mike Vrabel told the media in his year end press conference that he would be committed to investigating and diagnosing the root cause of Tennessee's ongoing battle with health.
“There is nothing more important than the health and safety of our players,” said Vrabel in the team's press release. “We’ve had a lot of issues after a certain part of the season. It’s hard to grow grass. It gets slick. We put new turf down, we try and put new sod down and it’s slick, you see guys slipping. Those are real things that I’ve witnessed over my time here.”
The technology being implemented in the turf is one that does not exist anywhere else in the NFL. The new surface will be a Matrix Helix turf with organic infill that combines the consistency of turf with the feel of the classic grass and dirt. The Titans have this technology in their practice facility at Saint Thomas Sports Park, as do other teams around the league, but it has yet to be implemented in an NFL stadium.
Image via Michael Clevenger and Dustin Strupp / USA TODAY Network-USA TODAY NETWORK
