Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is an artificial turf where seven NFL games take place in the field. The Hotspur soccer club plays on the natural grass.
The field has a retractable natural grass pitch that can be rolled in and out of the facilities. The soccer team usually plays their home games in the natural greenery whereas the playing bed is replaced with PlayMaster Hybrid artificial lawn system for the NFL London games.
NFL players have been reportedly complaining about the condition of the artificial area and how they are affecting their performances and promoting injuries.
In a recent game between the Buffalo Bills and the Jacksonville Jaguars, many athletes got injured and most of the time because of the playing bed of the Field.
Bills players addressed the pitch as “cement” in their interactions with the media. Walker Little, Dion Dawkins, Ed Oliver, Leonard Floyd, and Kingsley Jonathan were inspected for injuries.
The Field was officially brought into use on 3 April 2019 and is the home for the Premier League Matches and has a seating capacity of 62,850. It is also the third-largest football field in London and is the largest among the grounds owned by the club.
How Many NFL Stadiums Have Artificial Turf?
There are a total of 15 NFL stadiums that use artificial turf in their playing area. The hybrid pitch is disregarded by the other 15 fields using natural grass.
The use of such a hybrid playing bed has always been in debate when it comes to players’ safety and injury rate. Both sides use non-contact injury data to discourse on the topic.
Below is the list of all NFL fields that use hybrid pitch:
- Mercedes-Benz Stadium – Atlanta Falcons
- Highmark – Buffalo Bills
- Bank of America – Carolina Panthers
- Paul Brown – Cincinnati Bengals
- AT&T – Dallas Cowboys
- Ford Field – Detroit Lions
- NRG – Houston Texans
- Lucas Oil – Indianapolis Colts
- SoFi – Los Angeles Rams/Chargers
- U.S. Bank – Minnesota Vikings
- Gillette – New England Patriots
- Caesars Superdome – New Orleans Saints
- MetLife – New York Giants/Jets
- Lumen Field – Seattle Seahawks
- Nissan Stadium – Tennessee Titans
The man-made playing beds used in the above fields have wide different categories ranging from Revolution to Revolution 360 to Series S5-M Synthetic to Hellas Matrix. Other names in the category include Shaw Sports Momentum Pro and Classic HD.
Hybrid Field vs. Natural Grass Debate
The introduction of hybrid playing beds marked its debut in 1965 and was named “astroturfs”. Ever since the players across the League have been prone to several non-contact injuries in the lower part of their body.
The debate between those who have their own view regarding the advantages and disadvantages of both types of the field is always a rising topic in the National Football League. Many studies have shown that players playing on man-made sod are 28% more likely to get injured as compared to that of the natural lawn.
Besides, 69% of the foot and ankle injuries occur to the athletes while they are playing on the man-made field. In a survey conducted, 93% of NFL players voted against the use of such man-made playing areas and agreed that they should be replaced with natural lawns.
The rate of injury by 2022 was 0.048 per 100 in the man-made playing beds whereas it was 0.035 per 100 in the natural playing field. If we look at the stats from 2012 to 2020, the rate of injuries on lower extremities was much lower in the natural play surface as compared to the other one.
The data were almost similar in the 2021 season but the man-made sod saw an increasing number of statistics while entering the 2022 season which stirred fire in the debate again.
If we are to compare the statistics of the last six seasons, the natural field saw 5.39 injuries which is 4.8% less as compared to that of the man-made one.
The hybrid playing surface has been causing 0.86 head injuries and 0.88 contacts with the ground injuries whereas the natural lawn invites only 0.76 and 0.82 injuries respectively.
The rate is actually 5.69 injuries per game which is apparently 4.8% more than the rates in the natural playing surface. Out of the top 10 NFL fields with the most injuries seven of them including MetLife, Ford Field, Mercedes-Benz, High Mark, and SoFi have man-made playing surfaces.
Almost all the players across the League have been considering real grass over the others mainly for two reasons:
- It is very important from the players’ safety point of view and,
- Running on real grass is a different feeling for the athletes.
NFL Northumberland Development Project
New NFL Stadium in London was opened on 3 April 2019 and completed under the Northumberland Development Project that went by the name Tottenham Hotspur.
The project began in the 1980s with a motive of redeveloping White Hart Lane which was the home ground for Tottenham Hotspur.
In 1979 the capacity of the field was 50,000 which was reduced to 36,000 as a part of the redevelopment which was completed in 1998. The plan to build another new Field where the White Hart was located at the time came in 2007 and the announcement was made in 2008.
The completion time of the project was subsequently delayed multiple times because of the need to submit revised plans due to ongoing riots as well disputes regarding the purchase of some spots around the place where the Field was being built.
New plans were implemented in October 2013 where it was decided that a multi-purpose field would be built that would contain a retractable pitch like that of the Arizona Cardinals.
This decision of the club opened the way to host NFL games in their field. The club reached an agreement with the NFL on 8 July 2015 to host at least two games per season for the next 10 years.
The revised plan was finally approved in December 2015 by the Haringey Council and finally successfully completed in the 2018-19 season opening in 2019 only.
Building And Infrasture Under The Project
Apart from the football ground, there were several other buildings and facilities to be built under the development project on around 20 acres 81,000 m2 of land.
The facilities include:
- Tottenham Experience – The building with club museum, arrival hub, and visitors center, including a cinema, club store, ticket office, and café.
- Lilywhite House: This will be the Hotspur headquarters
- Ancillary club buildings
- Public spaces including large public areas on the south podium
- Housing
- Sports Center
- Retail Spaces
- Community facilities
- Education Establishments
What NFL Teams Are Playing In London?
NFL teams playing in London are the Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee Titans, Atlanta Falcons, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Buffalo Bills as part of the NFL London Games.
Among the five teams appearing in London games this season, the Bills, the Jaguars, and the Titans have been considered the home teams whereas the Falcons and the Ravens are viewed as the road squads.
Besides, the Jaguars also come in the road category for one match that it played against the Buffalo Bills at the Hotspur Field. There are a total of three matchups between these five teams to take place in the UK as a part of the League’s international series extension.
Among the three hustles, two of them, one between the Atlanta Falcons and the Jacksonville Jaguars took place on 1 October Sunday at 9:30 AM ET and 2:30 PM UK time where the Jaguars got a 23-7 victory over the opponent.
The other was a battle between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Buffalo Bills that was played on 8 October last Sunday at 2:30 PM UK time/9:30 AM ET where again the Jaguars went for a 25-20 win over the Bills.
These matches although a part of the League’s international series are counted among the regular season games.
NFL Games At Tottenham Stadium 2023
There were a total of two games scheduled to take place in the stadium for the 2023 season. They are:
- Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Buffalo Bills 8 October at 2:30 PM BST/9:30 AM ET (W25-20)
- Baltimore Ravens vs. Tennessee Titans on 15 October at 9:30 AM ET/2:30 PM BST
NFL Teams That Have Not Played In London
All 32 NFL teams have appeared for at least one game in London. The Packers were the only team before 2022 but they played against the Giants in 2022.
The Packers lost the match to the New York Giants by 22-27 score. It was their first-ever appearance in the NFL matchup in the United Kingdom.
By, 2023, all the 32 franchises in the National Football League have already participated in the NFL’s international marketing series regular season match-ups in the UK.
Below is the list of teams and the years in which they have traveled across the Atlantic to take part in NFL Britain’s games.
- Cardinals – 2017
- Falcons – 2014, 2021, 2023
- Ravens – 2017, 2023
- Bills – 2015, 2023
- Panthers – 2019
- Bears – 2011, 2019
- Bengals – 2016, 2019
- Browns – 2017
- Cowboys – 2014
- Broncos – 2010
- Packers – 2022
- Lions – 2014, 2015
- Texans – 2019
- Colts – 2016
- Jaguars – 2013 – 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023
- Chiefs – 2015
- Chargers – 2008, 2018
- Rams – 2012, 2016, 2017, 2019
- Dolphins – 2007, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2021
- Vikings – 2013, 2017, 2022
- Patriots – 2009, 2012
- Saints – 2008, 2017, 2022
- Giants – 2007, 2016
- Jets – 2015, 2021
- Raiders – 2014, 2018, 2019
- Eagles – 2018
- Steelers – 2013
- 49ers – 2010, 2013
- Seahawks – 2018
- Buccaneers – 2009, 2011, 2019
- Titans – 2018, 2023
- Commanders – 2016