It’s official: the new playing surface at MetLife Stadium next season is FieldTurf Revolution 360, the same surface used in New Orleans and Seattle.
Giants safety Julian Love, the team’s union representative, revealed that Sunday during the team’s final media availability, telling NJ.com that the players “consider the new surface a significant upgrade over the FieldTurf Classic HD that the Giants and Jets had played on and hated since 2020.”
Back in November, Love was the one who announced the turf would be changed, saying that “stats have shown that we are on one of the worst fields in the league.”
It may be coincidence, but since the installation of their current FieldTurf Classic HD surface in 2020, there have been a large number of non-contact leg injuries at MetLife Stadium, this season’s injuries including Sterling Shepard tearing his ACL and Jacksonville’s Dawuane Smoot tearing his Achilles while facing the Jets in December.
NFLPA President and former Browns center JC Tretter doesn’t think it’s coincidence, as he posted to the NFLPA website in November condemning the playing surface at six stadiums, including MetLife, saying that it’s slit film surface has “statistically higher in-game injury rates compared to all other surfaces for each of the following: non-contact injuries, missed time injuries, lower extremity injuries and foot and ankle injuries.”
The better news is that Love said a grass field might be possible at MetLife, and that notion could be tested by the 2026 World Cup; games in that tournament are scheduled in East Rutherford, and FIFA requires World Cup Games to be played on grass.
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Love had said back in November that installing grass would be a challenge at MetLife due to two teams playing and all the other events held at the Stadium, so for now, the Giants will get “the best turf.”
“Right now, we can’t sustain grass, so we’re going to get the best turf,” Love said. “This surface is good. I think it is the safest out there from a numbers perspective. They did all the due diligence. (Giants trainer) Ronnie Barnes looked at everything and (Giants owner John) Mara was very involved in the negotiations and the talks.”
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