Sunday’s game between the Ravens and Cowboys in Brazil will be played on a grass field that likely will not look great on TV. It also will prevent challenges for the players, especially when it comes to wearing the right cleats.
NFL Players Association executive director JC Tretter has weighed in on the issue. And he has pointed to the obvious red flag regarding the general field quality at stadiums that rarely host NFL games.
“There have been a lot of questions about the field surface in Brazil, and I wanted to provide the NFLPA’s perspective,” Tretter said in a lengthy message posted on Twitter.
“Our number one priority is the health and safety of our players. The concern heading into this week was that the field would be loose, patchy, and lead to excessive slipping. Those conditions are generally more of a playability and performance issue than a significant injury concern.
“But safety isn’t the only standard. Players should be able to perform at the level they expect of themselves and that fans expect from them. A thin, slick field may not present the same risks as a surface with too much traction, but it still affects performance and the quality of the game.
“We’ve been in regular communication with the league about the field. Both the NFLPA’s and the league’s field experts have been on the ground in Brazil for days, monitoring conditions and working to make the surface as safe and playable as possible for Sunday.
“Based on our experts’ assessment, the field needed better traction and stability. They recommended reinforced stitching to help the surface hold together and brought in equipment to reinforce as much of the field as possible before the game. Our experts will remain engaged and continue evaluating conditions through kickoff.
“The work happening this week also highlights two larger issues.
“First, we need field standards that account for both safety and performance. The NFL, NFLPA, and our field and engineering experts spend a lot of time working on these issues, and we’ve made progress. But we’re not where we need to be yet. We can’t have surfaces that melt players’ cleats, like we saw in Nashville last week. We can’t have frozen fields that create unnecessary risks. The best athletes in the world should be playing on surfaces that meet the same standard of excellence we expect from them every week.
“Second, this reinforces one of our concerns about international expansion. Two of the three games played in Brazil have had field-related issues. That’s not a coincidence. This time of year makes it extremely challenging to maintain the kind of grass surface we expect at the NFL level.
“Our guys are exceptional at what they do, and I’m confident they’ll put on a terrific game in Rio this week. They always do. But we owe it to them to provide the best possible opportunity to succeed. Players can overcome a lot. But they shouldn’t have to overcome the field.
“The NFL has been clear they want to continue to grow the game internationally. However, growth alone cannot be the goal. The goal has to be growing the game while maintaining the standards our players deserve. If we can’t do both, then we need to make different decisions.”
The problem is that the NFL has already made the decision to expand the slate of international games from 10 per year to 16. As to field quality, it would be better to have a team or two based in other countries, since that would give the league a reason to ensure that the field will be good enough for all 10 home games played there.
For now, the league intends to, in theory, have every team play one international game per year. And while the NFLPA isn’t required to agree to that term in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement, the league will surely lock out the players until they agree to both 18 regular-season games and 16 annual international games.
The best the players can do is negotiate the best concessions in exchange. Field quality shouldn’t be a concession. The league’s desire to save money and to expand revenue potential for non-football events has contributed to the current number of artificial fields. The issue is different as to international games; cities need to be selected with the quality of the games to be played there as one of the top priorities.
In Brazil, it clearly is not.
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