The Lions were one of several teams to draw criticism across the NFL this season for having outdated turf on their home field that puts players at undue risk of injury.
They're changing it later this month. This comes on the heels of a request by the NFL Players Association in November for the "immediate removal" of all slit film turf fields, which the Lions have been playing on at Ford Field since 2019.
As first reported by the NFL Network on Friday, the Lions are upgrading the playing surface at Ford Field in mid-January from slit film to a different artificial surface called CORE monofilament FieldTurf that is said to be better for player safety.
Dan Campbell said Friday that the change has "been in the making for a while" with the support of Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp and president Rod Wood.
"Rod's been talking about this for before anything came up about the grass and this and that," said Campbell. "Look, we're committed -- and Sheila and Rod are committed -- to finding whatever it is. We know we can't have grass, we're a dome team, so let's find the very best-rated turf that we can get. That's been a priority. I've known that's been going on. I think that's a big deal.
"And I think that's another reason why, look man, this is a good place to be. When you have ownership that's willing to do anything -- and it kind of starts with the players, I think they think that way -- I think that's big."
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