Nissan Stadium. Photo Courtesy of Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp

The Titans Switching From Grass To Turf At Nissan Stadium In 2023

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Nissan Stadium. Photo Courtesy of Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp

Nissan Stadium. Photo: Courtesy of Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp

The Titans will no longer be playing on grass at Nissan Stadium as they are switching to artificial turf before the start of the 2023-24 season.

Tennessee has sighted the overwhelming amount of lower-body injuries over the past years, most notably these past two seasons where the Titans struggled to keep a consistent team on the field due to injuries. From the 2018-2021 NFL seasons, Nissan Stadium had higher lower extremity injuries than each of the monofilament synthetic turfs in the league, according to the press release.

“Ultimately we’ve landed on the decision, based on that data, to transition to a monofilament surface with an organic infill that mimics the natural feel of grass while getting the consistency and durability of field turf,” says Titans President and CEO Burke Nihill.

Nissan Stadium’s field will be upgraded to monofilament, Matrix Helix Turf with organic infill, providing players with a consistent playing experience year-round. This fall, Nissan Stadium will become the first NFL stadium with the technology of a synthetic turf system that incorporates organic infill.

The main factors the Titans listed as reason they are switching to turf are the climate zone, injuries and the improved technology:

  • Climate zone: Because Nashville is located in a transition climate zone, the ability to provide a consistent, durable playing surface has been a struggle since the Titans first started playing at Nissan Stadium in 1999. The team has regularly replaced the grass, and resodded, but the results have been less than ideal, and the playing surface has been especially troublesome late in past seasons.
  • Injuries: Because of the inconsistent, undependable surface, the Titans have seen a number of injuries take place at Nissan Stadium. During the 2018-2021 seasons, Nissan Stadium consistently had amongst the highest lower body injuries of any stadium across the league.
  • Improved technology: The monofilament, Matrix Helix Turf, combined with the organic infill, is the latest in turf technology. It combines consistency and durability of field turf with the feel and performance of a grass and dirt surface. The organic infill is a type of infill that mimics the feel and performance of natural grass. It can produce field temperatures that are 20- 40 degrees cooler than fields with traditional SBR infill. It even requires watering, as it is made with natural materials.

“There is nothing more important than the health and safety of our players,” says Head Coach Mike Vrabel. “We’ve had a lot of issues (with the grass at Nissan Stadium) after a certain part of the season. It’s hard to grow grass. It gets slick. We put new turf down, we try and put new sod down and it’s slick, you see guys slipping. Those are real things that I’ve witnessed over my time here. Our grass surface is not on the level of some of the other grass surfaces (across the NFL). At the beginning of the year, summer, training camp, early season, I can see it being very consistent. But as the season wears on, and the weather changes, there is a noticeable difference in performance of the field.”

The new playing field at Nissan Stadium will be similar to the surface and infill that is currently used inside the team’s indoor practice facility at Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park, and also used in other practice facilities across the NFL. Organic infill retains moisture better than rubber infill to mimic the feel and performance of natural grass, while the matrix helix design of the turf limits infill “splash” upon contact.

“I think our grounds crew is among the best in the National Football League,” Nihill says. “Ultimately, there’s just a limit to how much can be done for a natural grass surface in this part of the country. This turf is cutting-edge technology and will be a huge improvement in terms of consistency and performance.”

Prep work on the Nissan Stadium field installation is already underway and will be completed in time for the 2023 NFL season.

Steven Boero
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