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Super Bowl LVIII can be performed on a pure grass area in an indoor stadium in Las Vegas on February 11, 2024. How do you retain a grass area vibrant in such a hostile rising surroundings like the Nevada desert?
The reply: You don’t. By the finish of the common NFL season, paint was used to camouflage the actuality that only a few scant patches of grass remained in Allegiant Stadium, dwelling to the Las Vegas Raiders. Immediately after the Raiders’ final sport on January 7, 2024, the area crew ripped up the remaining grass, put in California-grown sod over three days, and commenced the tedious technique of conserving the grass alive lengthy sufficient for the large sport.
Herculean efforts to arrange a vibrant pure grass area for 2024’s Super Bowl LVIII are particularly questionable when one realizes that Allegiant Stadium additionally has an artificial turf taking part in floor out there (utilized by UNLV Football). Why don’t groups in hostile environments change to extra strong artificial turf, which is designed to beat the many limitations of pure grass fields?
The reply lies in a debate over the security of artificial taking part in surfaces. While artificial turf producers tout analysis that their merchandise end in fewer accidents, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) claims it raises damage threat and is advocating for its use to be abolished in the NFL. Let’s discover some key arguments of this debate, which continues to seize headlines with every high-profile NFL damage.
Super Bowl gridirons
Pressure for NFL area managers is very excessive following the embarrassingly poor area circumstances of final 12 months’s Super Bowl. Super Bowl LVII befell at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona—one other pure grass area in the desert (with a retractable roof, closed at evening to guard the grass). Despite two years of preparation and an $800,000 funding, the grass area was a catastrophe, as gamers struggled to search out footing on its slippery surface.
Veteran NFL groundskeeper George Toma attributed the mess to woefully improper area preparation. Players additionally complained about the slipping problem the earlier time the Super Bowl was hosted at the pure grass area in State Farm Stadium eight years prior for Super Bowl XLIX in 2015. That 12 months, the poor traction was blamed on the inexperienced paint used on the grass.
For perspective, a few of the greatest sports activities area managers in the nation oversee area preparations for the Super Bowl. However, sustaining pure grass in desert circumstances is so unfavorable (particularly when the grass is usually indoors) that even the greatest can mess it up.
None of those points existed when the Super Bowl was final performed on artificial turf. Super Bowl LVI in 2022 was held at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, dwelling to each the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers. Not solely did the artificial turf stand as much as double the workload throughout the common season (internet hosting dwelling video games for the LA Rams and the LA Chargers), however it additionally withstood a busy playoff season. The artificial turf area at SoFi Stadium hosted NFL video games by way of the common season and proper as much as the final playoff sport when the LA Rams beat the San Francisco 49ers. Two weeks later, the Rams ended up successful Super Bowl LVI on the exact same floor.
While turf avoids the sturdiness points seen with grass surfaces, gamers have widespread issues about its security—a current ballot by the NFLPA reported 92 % of gamers favored grass.