Steelers Now
The grass playing surface Acrisure Stadium isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but it will now have to meet enhanced standards, thanks to a joint agreement between the NFL and NFLPA.
The union has been crusading against poorly maintained fields for years, especially artificial turf, citing studies that show higher rates of significant lower body injuries like ACL and Achilles tears, and concussions, along with more minor wear and tear concerns.
The NFL and NFLPA came to an agreement on Thursday that will require NFL teams to procure playing surfaces from a jointly approved list of providers, with the program following the same blueprint as the one that has helped the league create new and updated standards for safer helmets.
“We want to make sure that we’re supporting our clubs and we’re supporting our athletes,” Nick Pappas, the NFL’s field director, said to ESPN, “and ensuring that every field that enters our league is meeting the requirements that we believe are, obviously, ever evolving but the right ones.”
For grass fields like Pittsburgh’s, the policy will go into effect starting in the 2026 season. For stadiums with turf fields that have a longer replacement cycle, teams have until 2028 to comply with the new standards.
The Steelers’ grass has come under fire this season, after quarterback Aaron Rodgers, NFLPA vice president Cam Heyward and other players criticized the playing surface during the team’s win over the Cleveland Browns in October.
Heyward, the Steelers’ NFLPA union rep and a member of the executive committee, also blamed the field conditions for an injury suffered by Steelers safety Miles Killebrew.
“Honestly, it was shit,” Heyward said. “I lost one of my teammates and that makes me sad about it. … I like grass, but that wasn’t grass we played on.”
The Steelers have fully replaced their field twice since that game with new grass playing surfaces. They purchase their turf grass from a farm in New Jersey that also supplies the Philadelphia Eagles and other NFL teams. The full list of approved providers has not yet been released, but the Steelers’ provider is expected to be included.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now: New NFL-NFLPA Rule Could Impact Acrisure Stadium Grass
