World Cup grass fields will spark NFL turf conversation, Stu Holden says

Seven NFL stadiums are installing grass fields to comply with FIFA regulations for this summer’s World Cup, and Fox Sports’ Stu Holden believes there could be a ripple effect.

Half the league’s stadiums use turf, despite NFLPA Executive Director Lloyd Howell saying that 92% of the league’s players prefer grass.

Despite NFL players begging for grass and being told no, the stadiums had no choice but to, as NFLPA head J.C. Tretter once said, “roll out the green carpet of grass.”

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Workers install the pitch at New York New Jersey Stadium ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on May 7, 2026. (Charly Triballeau/AFP)

In a media availability on Friday, Tretter said the grass fields will be “a huge conversation” after the tournament, namely in the NFL.

“The fields will play so well that you’re gonna have the NFL players continuing to make more noise about why they don’t have grass in their stadiums and there’s turf, because it can be done,” Holden told reporters on Zoom. “And FIFA has the most stringent, detailed, you know, strict process on what these fields have to play like, because they understand that the grass and the playing surface are the most important part of the game being good.

“If you don’t have a good grass field, that makes it hard to see a good product on the field.”

The NFLPA has released several polls and studies showing that grass has been safer than turf, and Holden can apparently see why that is the case.

Workers install the pitch at New York New Jersey Stadium, temporarily renamed from MetLife Stadium, ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on May 7, 2026. (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)

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“There’s nothing that can replicate what real grass fields, the watering the right way, that for a player is a dream, and something that we all just, you know, turf will never be able to replicate that from a grass perspective.”

It was announced late last year that each NFL 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.

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 8: A general view of the NFL logo painted on the field prior to the NFL Super Bowl LX football game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks at Levi’s Stadium on February 8, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)

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The NFL has no plans to require natural grass fields. The league’s chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, said there are no “statistically significant differences” in lower-extremity injuries or concussions that can be attributed to the type of playing surface or a specific surface**, despite** widespread preferences by players for grass fields and complaints about surfaces such as the one at MetLife Stadium, where the New York Giants and Jets play.

Fox News’ Chantz Martin contributed to this report.