NFL Exec: League Seeks More-Uniform Playing Surfaces

Field surfaces will be a topic of discussion at this week's NFL owners meetings, where league officials say research into stadium playing surfaces is "off to a good start." 

According to ESPN, NFL vice president of health and safety, Jeff Miller, said that given the diversity of surfaces at the NFL's 30 stadiums, it's "hard to make a strong recommendation against any one thing." 

The NFL Players Association has made it clear that it prefers grass, calling it "simply safer" than turf in a statement. The NFL, however, is simply pursuing consistent surfaces at all of its venues. 

"I think the goal needs to be to limit the number of different surfaces that our clubs play on, so a player has an appreciation when he steps onto the field in one city that's going to feel very similar to the surface that he steps on in a different city so it doesn't feel hard or soft or slick or sticky," Miller said. "He knows what that's going to feel like, therefore the appreciation for it is going to satisfy him to some degree."

The NFL is currently without a uniform policy on surface types, and the NFLPA has included its collective bargaining agreement a clause that promises to work with the league on coming up with best practices. 

Miller said that initiatives on playing surfaces will "change substantially" over the next three years, including involvement with FIFA, which will hold several soccer games in NFL stadiums in the coming years. 

In a recent appearance on ESPN's "First Take" commissioner Roger Goodell said that the league continues to look into the issue, depending largely on scientific research to guide its efforts. 

"We're trying to understand injuries at a much more fundamental level, not just grass vs artificial," said Dr. Allen Sills, the league's chief medical officer, citing footwear, exposure and workload management as factors. "What is it about the field that relates to injury?"