The NFL season is almost over as the season will conclude on Sunday with the Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. The game will be played at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Allegiant Stadium is one of the rare indoor NFL stadiums that has a natural grass field. Most stadiums indoors use turf, and a lot of outdoor NFL stadiums use turf as well. Not Allegiant, and it turns out that most players prefer playing on grass.

NFL players would rather play on a grass field than a turf field, according to the NFLPA. The turf monster is a bigger threat when turf is in play, and grass is all around a better playing surface, according to most players.

“It's really basic,” NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell said on Wednesday, according to an article from ESPN. “It's not rocket science. Ninety-two percent of our union wants grass. That's compelling. The bottom line is, it's unquestionable that our union wants to have a working condition where they play on grass.”

Austin Ekeler of the Los Angeles Chargers was one NFL player that talked about it, and he talked about the turf burns that he gets. That isn't something that happens with grass.

“You bounce a little bit different off concrete, rubber and plastic than you do off grass and dirt,” Ekeler said. “It hurts. Turf is a lot harder surface. When it comes to my legs, on turf, you stick. On grass, dirt, you move a little bit. So, it's the accumulation of those little things.”

At the end of the day, NFL players prefer grass, it leads to less injuries and that is the direction that the NFLPA wants to move toward.

“There's a model out there that says, for another sport it's possible,” Howell continued. “Now certainly the average football player, the football game is different than soccer. We appreciate that. But the science alone says this is possible. And so, when we have engaged the league, we've actually had a very rational conversation. We've looked at the data, we've looked at, is there a material difference? And at any given point in time, depending on the timeline … yeah. [It could extend a] guy's career by two or three years and that's meaningful to our union and that's dollars to them and their families, their lives. That's a difference in chronic pain for the rest of their lives. So, this extends way beyond the aesthetics of us as fans watching the game. This is really a workplace issue for our players.”

It looks like the NFLPA is working hard to get NFL stadiums around the league to implement grass fields. It will certainly be more work to maintain, but it sounds like the best option for the league.