NFL just posted a job opening for a Senior Director of Field Research and Stadium Projects.
Job Description
The Sr. Director of Fields, Field Research and Stadium Projects will lead and be on-site for all neutral site games to oversee all field-related planning and will liaise with member clubs to maintain high standards of excellence of field surface. This individual will lead all surface research, whether natural or synthetic, manage consultant experts as well as direct engagement with manufacturers, other sports leagues and the 32 clubs. In addition, this individual will collaborate on internal processes, project management, stadium and game day preparations, and issue tracking/reporting.
Responsibilities:
Field Research Workstreams and Committees
- Liaise with Health & Safety, as well as 3rd party consultants, on improved testing/tracking options and protocols
- Oversee NFL-NFLPA Joint Mandatory Practices for fields/playing surfaces and liaise with Management Council on updates/modifications
- Joint Surface Committee research and support
- Lead team responsible for overseeing and executing field maintenance plans during Halftime rehearsals at Super Bowl
International & Neutral Site Games
- Lead field surface project plans for practice and game fields for all Neutral Site Games (International Series, Pro Bowl, Super Bowl, etc.) to ensure consistency across all games.
- Procure and facilitate storage of all necessary equipment and tools for field preparation (e.g., paint machines, blowers, mowers, grow lights, field and bench area tarps, grow blankets, etc.)
- Maintain and manage field equipment warehouse inventory and shipping for all neutral site and international games
- Oversee League-hired grounds crew for all Neutral Site Games including scheduling, communications, onboarding paperwork, travel, housing, etc.
- Oversee budget for all field projects
- Identify, source and oversee any ancillary support required (e.g., fertilizer, sand, specialty equipment).
- Lead efforts with Sod Farms for all neutral site games
Stadium Operations & Game Day Support
- Primary responsibility for sharing turf/field research with clubs to aid them in field selection, replacement, preparation etc. This includes practice surfaces as well
- Part of a team that Liaises with 32 Club Field mangers to ensure day-to-day compliance with field policies & best practices
- Visit and review all new field installs, field issues/concerns, oversee compliance with NFL-NFLPA CBA/Joint Mandatory Practices
- Advise Clubs that have new stadium projects and/or renovation plans on field surfaces, best practices, field dimensions, etc. and conduct on-site walkthroughs during construction phases to ensure construction details comply with the renderings
- Review and edit relevant sections of the Game Ops manual.
- Attend periodic in-person meetings, including the Combine, Field Managers meeting, etc.
Offseason talk during the season. What is the nfl hiding
Before they convert every team to grass they should require an installation of an under the field water powered heating system to maintain grass/field temperatures at all outdoor stadiums. This would drastically reduce injury during the winter time when the grass is normally as hard as cement, would increase the on-field temperature, and would also reduce heavy snow from being as high of an impact as it would melt. On top of this it would ensure the field conditions across the league were nearly identical regardless of it being indoor/outdoor.
hiring 1 person isn’t taking a serious look, there should be literal teams of researchers working on this.
but its a start.
Oh, the NFL will look at the bottom line, i’m sure.
Here in aus at Marvel stadium (fairly shitty place) they have uv lights so they can play footy on grass in a dome. Weird that it’s not used in America cause you guys have college stadiums that are world class fields.
Well, I know some of the NFLs problems.
They are using Oracle. I have heard nothing but bad things about them.
Anecdotal but I tore my ACL three different times on grass. Played two seasons of football on primarily turf and never had an issue. I don’t blame grass, though. I think there were many other factors.
Ehh I don’t think they are looking into turf vs grass more then they did in the past based on this job req.
If they actually cared they would listen to the players since they are the ones who play on those surfaces.
This is just someone else to tow the company line for the league and its owners.
The NFL has already funded studies that showed the following two results:
- In terms of only quantity, injuries are vaguely equal when playing on turf vs. grass.
- In terms of types of injuries, grass sees more “football type” injuries (e.g. contusions, bruises, sprains, fractures, etc.), while turf sees significantly more “ACL-type” injuries with torn or ruptured ligaments.
The safety of turf is real - it’s not too different from grass in many areas. But even the NFL has determined that ligament injuries are WAAAAAAAY more likely to happen on turf. That is also a major downside with turf, it’s not a perceived weakness of the terrain, it’s a REAL weakness of the terrain.
“Commissioner, I’ve finalized my report.”
“And?”
“Turns out, converting to grass fields will…”
“Yes? Out with it man!”
“Well, sir, it will cost money.”
“WHAT?!”
“Yessir. But we do believe simple threats to relocate teams will result in the appropriate 100% city and state funding for the conversions so we believe we should get started.”
“Oh, right, of course. Good work. Carry on.”
Seriously! At my high school (not even a football school) the turf was so much better than ford fields. Not even close. I know this from doing marching band and marching on both.
My dad just got laid off by the PGA, and knows a crazy amount about grass. PGA to NFL would be a pretty linear move, right?
give me that job, it’ll be open and shut.
metlife turf is garbage, force everybody to change to grass. oh no, it costs too much?
you fuckers are multi millionaires, some of you are billionaires. cry me a river about how it costs too much.
I’ve just never understood the argument that some stadiums can’t support grass. I mean Kansas City has grass. It’s 95° opening day and 4° in the playoffs in an outdoor stadium. If I remember correctly, they have a heated water system that runs under the field to keep the grass alive. It’s always just been a money thing.
Hopeful that this will lead to improved surfaces and fewer injuries.