Seven NFL stadiums that normally play on artificial turf laid temporary grass this summer so they could host World Cup matches. George Kittle noticed.
The San Francisco 49ers tight end made his case in a statement the NFLPA shared and again on the Pardon My Take podcast. His point is simple. If the work could be done for FIFA, he says, it can be done for the players who take the field every Sunday. “We’ve made it clear that we prefer grass fields,” Kittle said. “We know it’s better on our bodies.”
He called the World Cup conversions proof of feasibility. What is missing, he argued, is will: “it comes down to the NFL making it a priority and choosing to invest in us as players, because our bodies are our business, which they get to capitalize on.”
On the podcast he put it more bluntly. “If you can put grass in MetLife and in SoFi, I think you could do that year-round,” he said, according to CBS Sports. He also wondered why teams would not just spend “a couple extra million dollars” to grass every field.
What players say
The NFLPA surveyed 1,700 players. Ninety-two percent said they prefer natural grass. Kittle’s own guess on the podcast landed close to that: about 90 percent, if you polled everyone.
He is not alone in public. Nick Bosa, Joe Burrow, Aaron Rodgers and Odell Beckham Jr. have all said the same. Giants defensive end Brian Burns said this week that he wishes MetLife would keep its grass for good. Former lineman Andrew Whitworth told Fox News Digital he “would definitely be” annoyed with the league if he were still playing. And former Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, speaking as both a player and a coach, said he would like “grass in 32 stadiums.”
The league’s side
Stadium operators have long cited cost, upkeep and the busy event calendars of their buildings as reasons for turf. Kittle’s argument is that the World Cup took those excuses off the table. The NFL points to its own injury data to say the gap between surfaces is smaller than players claim.
For Kittle the issue is personal. He tore an Achilles in the Wild Card playoff game at Lincoln Financial Field in January. The 49ers play at home on grass at Levi’s Stadium, but he is due to play on artificial surfaces in five road games in 2026.
