NFL wild-card game in San Francisco under threat from atmospheric river

A barrage of atmospheric rivers has dumped heavy amounts of rain across California over the past couple of weeks, and that will continue into this weekend.

The weather forecast for Saturday’s NFC Wild Card game between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks calls for heavy rain and strong winds. 

But with weeks of rain already, how is the field at 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, holding up? 

Well, we may not know until Saturday, but we spoke with West Coast Turf, whom the 49ers contract for their playing surfaces, to see what could expect. 

The San Francisco 49ers use a real grass playing surface, a Bermuda and Perennial Ryegrass mixture, at Levi’s Stadium, and new grass was just recently installed on December 15. 

So, the 49ers have only played in two games on the new grass, but Greg Dunn with West Coast Turf said the grounds crew will do whatever is necessary to protect the field, including putting waterproof turf blankets on the field for the heavy rain forecast for Saturday. 

“They’ll do that right up until Saturday… They’ll keep the field under a waterproof tarp as close to game time as possible. So the field will likely only be rained on if they get rain on Saturday, pregame and during the game,” said Dunn. 

Dunn said the field should be in great condition because it has only been played on twice and is not being used other than on game day. 

During Week 1 of the NFL season, we saw the new grass at Soldier Field when the 49ers took on the Bears was no match for the excessive rain they received. 

Grounds crews at Soldier Field were forced to push the water off the field with a squeegee throughout the game.

And even though the excessive rain was no match for the Bears’ new turf, the puddles made for the perfect slip-n-slide for Chicago to celebrate their win over San Francisco.

Dunn suggested that shouldn’t be a problem at Levi’s Stadium since all their root zone is what they call ‘USGA sand.’ 

“It’s an engineered soil, and it’s similar to a putting green on a golf course. So it has a very high infiltration rate, meaning water can go into it quite quickly,” said Dunn. “So the root zone at Levi’s stadium is an engineered root zone where there is no silts or clay or small particles. So the water infiltration rate is quite high.” 

The natural-grass field at Levi’s Stadium hasn’t always been in the headlines for good reasons. 

When the stadium opened in 2014, it got re-sodded after a week, because field conditions weren’t up to par during the preseason, and most recently, in November 2018, lots of slippage happened during a 49ers-New York Giants game. 

The debate between playing on natural grass or artificial turf is nothing new in the NFL. 

However, it was brought back to the forefront after a string of injuries during a Week 7 game between the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium

A study by University Hospitals Sports Medicine Institute analyzed data to compare injury rates on artificial versus natural playing surfaces among high school athletes – both male and female – for all sports played on a field. 

“They found athletes were 58 percent more likely to sustain an injury during athletic activity on artificial turf. Injury rates were significantly higher for football,” the sports medicine institute stated. “Lower extremity, upper extremity, and torso injuries were also found to occur with a higher incidence on artificial turf.”

Authors of previous studies found an increased rate of ACL injury in football athletes playing on artificial turf compared with natural grass, the study added. 

Doctors say that even though the quality of artificial turf has improved dramatically over the past years, these studies suggest athletes should take preventative measures when playing on artificial turf.

NFL Players Association President JC Tretter has called for all teams to use grass fields to reduce the risk of injury to players back in September 2020. 

Tretter cited NFL injury data from 2012 to 2018 that showed a 28% higher rate of non-contact lower-extremity injuries on artificial turf as compared to grass. He also noted of those non-contact injuries, players have a 32% higher rate of non-contact knee injuries on turf and a staggering 69% higher rate of non-contact foot/ankle injuries on turf compared to grass.

The stance from Tretter and other NFL players is that artificial turf is significantly harder on the body than grass. 

Sixteen NFL stadiums have real grass. Ten of them have Bermuda grass, three have Kentucky bluegrass, two have Desso Grassmaster, and one has a combination of different grasses. 

GameOnGrass (GOG) has become a recently popular choice for those teams looking to have Bermuda grass.

“GOG is a sand-based sod grown on plastic, which creates an intense root mass and unparalleled durability,” said Chad Price, owner of Carolina Green Corp.

The combination of the thickness and weight, and the intense root system from plastic grown, allow GOG to be laid and played on immediately.

GOG is currently on five NFL surfaces: Chicago, Baltimore, Washington, Kansas City, and Tennessee.

Sixteen NFL teams play home games on artificial turf across 14 stadiums. The Giants and Jets share a turf field in MetLife Stadium, while the Rams and Chargers share a turf dome in SoFi Stadium. 

Here is a full list of the playing surface for each NFL stadium: 

There is no set rule for real grass versus turf, so it is up to each stadium to decide. 
 

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