Despite being in Wisconsin, the Packers have the best field in the NFL. The grass is green, even if it’s blended with synthetic fibers. The drainage is effective. The tundra is never actually frozen.
As a time when field quality has become a hot-button issue for the NFL Players Association and a growing number of players, the league’s two-time defending MVP has added his influential voice to the chorus.
"[Expanding to 17 games] was about monetary gains, so this would be putting your money where your mouth is if player safety is important,” Rodgers said Tuesday, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com.
Rodgers agrees that it’s time for grass fields in every stadium.
“I think you would see less of these non-contact injuries that we see on some of the surfaces, and I think that it’d be a good step in the right direction towards player safety to make the requirement for every field to be grass,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers is also realistic.
“I don’t have a lot of confidence when it comes to the league making that decision without some sort of big vote and gripes from certain owners who don’t want to spend the money,” Rodgers said.
Plenty of owners don’t want to spend the money. It’s ludicrous. Even if they don’t care about the players, they should care about the massive investment they’ve made in them.
And it’s likely no coincidence that the Packers have such a great field when they don’t have an owner who would otherwise pocket the profits -- and then uses them to pay for a giant yacht.
