Should MLS begin to transition to all grass surfaces?

Back in the 80s, many Seattle youth soccer fields were a combination of dirt, ground up tires, and rocks. It was amazing.

 

I still have scar tissue on my knees from playing in goal on rock hard natural surfaces in England as a kid. I think modern artificial turf is more forgiving than a baked hard surface in July or a frozen goalmouth in December. But of course elite academy kids don't have to face those sort of conditions any more.

 

My 2 cents...

Grass is better, there shouldn't be any debate about that. This isn't about injury, or temperature or anything else, it's about the bounce of the ball. Ball bounces higher, harder to control makes the players seem worse than they actually are, and makes the game much more random and generally of a lower quality. So yeah in a perfect world MLS should be entirely on grass, or hybrid pitches.

But the issue is modern turf is better for the NFL teams. My understanding is players actually prefer playing on turf over grass because it offers a more consistent footing, particularly in January after 10 games have already been played on it. Just look at the state of Wembley after a NFL game.

The answer? We all know the answer more plastic pitches.

 

I'd argue that a good turf field is better than a bad grass one.

 

Sure but also depends on how bad we are talking. I watched the Newport County-Man City match in the FA Cup. That was a pretty bad pitch that is used regularly for Rugby. I am not sure it played worse than Xolos pitch that I see games on all the time.

Now if we are talking about public parks and schools than I am all for artificial, but we're talking about professional sports teams with full time ground staff. I would hope that even in tough climates that could have a grass field that plays truer than an artificial one (Shared NFL fields the exception.)

 

OK fine but at the higher levels assume good grass and hood turf. Grass should be the only acceptable option.

 

I've seen higher level games both in the States and in Europe. I'm not making the assumption of "good grass".

 

The grass is green

 

I doubt anything will come from this, but this is still interesting.

https://www.radio.com/wfan/sports/g...um=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_term=WFAN-AM

 

When I was a kid, they'd scatter broken glass over a concrete surface and have us play on our knees.

 

That's nothing. Pinhead's head was based on an actual 1970s English soccer ball.

 

The grass vs turf issue has a very easy answer= grass only, unlike pro-rel which has multiple levels of issue why or why not it can be done.

As for turf, as long as we are sharing with NFL or playing in domes, we have to put up with turf. Otherwise, we always talk about SSS is the best model for our game, so while very doubtful, the turf teams need to suck it up and get to a grass situation, like their own stadium. My quick review of turf teams=
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Vancouver, turf & dome sucks considering we had a chance of a private built SSS, then the issues that forced the team to move to the remodeled dome.
Chance of grass? Zero to none
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Seattle- big NFL stadium, yeh great they draw well, but I simply don't watch games on TV from SEA (or any turf stadium) as generally unwatchable.
Unless some new deep pocket owner comes along AND a piece of land in a very expensive area comes along, we are stuck with turf
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Portland- Merritt has talked about grass. Would be nice. I know the issue is the creek under the stadium so you can't build down, so why not build the field up?
Maybe a chance here
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New England. The difference here vs. Seattle is Seattle draws fans in a way too large NFL stadium and NE does not. I think if the team ever moves into Boston proper, I would surely hope grass is part of the stadium plan.
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Atlanta- dome , turf, NFL. Ugh. Once again, just because you draw well, doesn't make it right.
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Charlotte- major disappointment. Too large NFL stadium, but was willing to give them a break since a nice grass field and if they could really fill the lower bowl, then ok. But now PSL's and high ticket prices and now pulling up the grass, sorry, they lost me.
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I am picky about grass at the MLS level as its our highest level
I give USL-C and lower leagues a break as just to have a new stadium in lower leagues takes a leap of faith and many are community type situations.

 

I just checked the surfaces at USLC clubs. There's more artificial turf than I thought.

19 grass
1 hybrid
11 turf

 

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Thanks for the update- who has the hybrid field ?

Any MLS have a hybrid? And another thought, is a hybrid field 50% grass & 50% artificial or is there a standard or normal mxi?

 

The artificial percentage in hybrid is generally a small percentage, like 10% or less.

 

I can't remember which has hybrid. I believe FCC do.

 

Is this proof that it ruins football?

 

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I am with a hybrid when the artificial portion is like that 10% level.
Isn't it Real Madrid or Barcelona or some other high profile teams in Europe use it. I think its meant as an "additive" (not a good adjective) but its meant to help hold the field together. I am also curious if its some high use area of the field like the keeper area- maybe it helps the area from turning to mud.

So now I wonder if an NFL team uses it and then I wonder if the next progression of hybrid fields would be good enough for football and soccer to use the same field and keep the quality of the playing surface good....Good to the point that you could get away from the frickin plastic crap.

 

Top flight teams in Europe use it which is why pitched are in such condition towards the end of the season in marked contrast to lower division teams.

 

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Phoenix and Vegas are the perfect solution with the slide out grass tray.
In fact, I believe the Vegas Raiders play on the grass, but the college team UNLV plays on turf in the new stadium.
Living in LA (and I am not an NFL fan), I can't believe they put fake turf in a billion $+ stadium. Its Southern California for gods sake, the grass surfaces are generally good all year round. And that stadium has a roof, even crazier.
I am very sad their website claims they are getting the opening and closing of the Olympics- very wrong. They can have the closing, but the Coliseum should get the opening for history reasons of being the only stadium to host 3 Olympics.
I also shudder it will get World Cup and Olympic soccer over the Rose Bowl.
But the bottom line in al of this, money talks, players and fans be dammed.

 

I'm not sure how serious this is, but there is growing pressure on the NFL from the players to ban artificial turf. This obviously would have an impact on MLS teams as three of the five clubs that play on turf share their stadium with an NFL team.

https://www.insider.com/nfl-stars-ban-turf-odell-beckham-jr-injury-super-bowl-2022-2

With Portland already saying they want to switch to grass at some point in the mythical future, this could result in MLS being almost turf free.

 

That would be nice (except for Vancouver) but couldn't they just soften the ground beneath the turf?

 

I don't believe that is a problem with modern NFL artificial turf fields. If anything, I've heard that turf fields are springier with grass fields thanks to the shredded rubber infills. Now, the infills do compress over time, but NFL teams tend to replace their turf before it gets too bad.

The main issues I've heard from turf fields is that the springiness adds extra strain on leg and lower back muscles and that because the surface doesn't "break" cleats can get stuck to the surface resulting in ankle and knee injuries.

 

there are more injuries on turf than natural grass....and the quality of play o turf for soccer is a lot worse...would be a welcome and long overdue change.

 

Well there have been lots of studies over the last 15 years that suggest that injuries are no worse on turf than grass, though I expect a lot of these studies have been financed by the turf companies.

Eredivisie got rid of turf because of the link to cancer though I don't think it was ever proven, otherwise they'd be digging them up everywhere.

By the way, this is what happens on a modern dual use, grass rugby and soccer pitch


And this is what happened on an old- fashioned grass rugby pitch last weekend