This past week saw a flurry of news concerning the Chicago Bears’ weighing their decision to either keep their stadium’s traditional grass or move forward and put artificial turf in place. Artificial grass fields In the beginning of the week it looked as they were going to look towards a bright future with turf. Yet, in a surprising turn of events, they opted for hard to manage and maintain grass.
But, why?
Well, the Bears have claimed that they are citing personal injury case studies that demonstrate too many mistakes happen on artificial grass fields. So they are keeping the players in mind when it comes to artificial grass fields.
Benefits of Artificial Grass Fields
Is this really the case? Hundreds, if not thousands, of fields, parks, and stadiums across the country have recently come to use artificial grass fields. They ran the same case studies as well. In fact, most recently the Baltimore Ravens have started work on replacing grass with artificial grass fields. So if it is good enough for Baltimore, why isn’t it good enough for the Bears?
Many are claiming it is sticking to the “good, ol’ fashioned, traditional American way of playing football.” Could that be just an excuse to not to deal with transitioning to artificial grass fields?
It is costly for a professional football team to overhaul a stadium, train people how to take care of it over time, give extra practice time to teams to get used to the new feel. Do the transition costs outweigh the long term benefits of low maintenance costs. Not to mention year round usage (especially in an area like Chicago and their awful winters), and a chance for re-branding? Apparently they do.
So, at least for now, the Chicago Bears are sticking to their roots and not moving towards the future with artificial grass fields. Will they be left behind when more teams & stadiums like the Ravens start looking to the future? Only time will tell.