The Cleveland Browns are making one major change as the team moves to a new state-of-the-art stadium.
The Browns have announced that their $2.6 billion stadium, set for completion in 2029, will use artificial turf for its playing surface instead of grass. The Browns, who will play out the next few seasons in Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, Ohio, are currently one of 16 teams that play on real grass.
The move will tilt the scales 17-15 in favor of turf, a movement which players have vocally opposed for years.
But all is not lost for soil truthers. According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, the new stadium will reportedly be able to accommodate grass, just as several NFL venues did for the recently concluded 2026 FIFA World Cup. That means the Browns could have the option to swap out the turf for grass should the pressure from players be too heavy to ignore.
San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle repeatedly called out the NFL during the World Cup for not mandating grass fields across the league. Players have long argued that artificial turf causes more lower-leg injuries than grass does. But there has been some debate about whether that’s actually the case.
Kittle and the rest of the pro-grass movement still have at least three seasons to prevent turf from claiming majority in the NFL.
