Taylor Swift Aug 7, 2023; Inglewood, CA, USA; Taylor Swift performs for the fourth night of the Eras Tour in Los Angeles. Swift is ending the first U.S. leg of her tour with a six-night stint at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sandy Hooper-USA TODAY

In recent years, it has become clear based on NFL injury data that injuries are more likely to occur on artificial turf compared to natural grass playing surfaces. Even if it is safer for players, there is a pretty interesting reason why league owners might prefer to stick with artificial turf, and it has to do with pop superstar Taylor Swift.

Even though players might prefer playing on natural grass surfaces and it leads to fewer injuries, it is much harder for an NFL stadium to host massive concerts like the ones Swift just brought to NFL stadiums across the country throughout her nationwide “Eras Tour.”

For this reason, league insider Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk does not think it’s particularly likely that the league will move to natural grass across the NFL, even despite demands from NFLPA Executive Director Lloyd Howell.

“He’s absolutely right. But the NFL won’t do it. Apart from the cost of installing and maintaining grass, owners with stadiums that host many other events will not want to devise a system for removing the grass for, for example, a Taylor Swift concert,” Florio wrote.

It’s pretty brutal news for the league that Swift and other pop stars could be standing in the way of player safety, and the NFL world had plenty to say about it on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/FixYourLife/status/1701638558178763169?s=20

It’s worth noting that it’s not impossible to hold concerts in stadiums with natural grass, it’s just typically more difficult and expensive.

[Pro Football Talk]