The New York Giants and the New York Jets aren’t switching MetLife Stadium’s artificial turf to natural grass, and the players aren’t happy about it. Yet the league stays unmoved. And when the Giants’ new head coach, John Harbaugh, was asked about his thoughts on the issue, he didn’t have any answer for a man who usually has plenty of words to share.

“You’re going to try to draw me into the turf vs. grass, then Roger’s going to call me up, and he’s going to get mad at me because I’m probably not going to say what he wants me to say.” Harbaugh said, “That’s all I’m going to say. It’s a good surface out there, it’s a good artificial surface.”

MetLife is right in the middle of a massive transformation for the FIFA World Cup Final on July 19. FIFA wants natural turfgrass, so that’s what’s going in. Then, once the tournament wraps in mid-July, all of it gets reversed. Turfgrass out, artificial turf back in, with the Giants and Jets right back to business as usual.

Giants president John Mara laid out his thinking at the NFL League Meetings back in March 2025.

“I want to get to the point where the experts can tell us that late in the season we can have a safe, playable grass field, and when we get to that point, then maybe we’ll make the switch,” Mara said. “We’re not there yet.”

He pointed to back-to-back rain games as a logistical nightmare that no grass field could survive. Two teams sharing one building, bad weather rolling through, and a grass surface that would look like a mud pit by the second game. From a pure operations standpoint, his concern isn’t unreasonable.

However, Mara also pushed back hard on the injury data.

“There’s virtually no difference in lower leg injuries on grass and turf,” he stated. “Last year, there were twice as many ACLs on grass as there were on turf.”

According to an investigation conducted by the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine, turf increases the chances of sustaining lower-body injuries by 16% and non-contact injuries by 20% when compared with playing on natural grass. Turf supporters argue that newer surface technology makes older studies less relevant, but players on the ground aren’t buying that argument.

“It’s time for the Giants to pay up and get rid of this turf at MetLife. They’ve tried everything. Changed turfs to find more ‘forgiving’ versions, but in the end, it’s the same results. Too many plant leg and non-contact injuries for the Giants and opponents who play there,” Giants reporter Dan Schneier had appealed after New York Giants star wide receiver Malik Nabers suffered a season-ending injury.

But NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell tried to split the difference back in 2023, noting,

“You have other players who like playing on the turf field, because it’s faster,” Goodell said. “So you’ve got mixed opinions. What we want to go on is science, we want to go on what’s the best from an injury standpoint.”

The NFLPA responded by highlighting that the number of players who actually prefer turf is a small minority, and speed has nothing to do with it.

John Harbaugh was a grass guy before he moved to New York

The NFLPA and team owners have been going back and forth for years on one thing: grass vs. turf. Players want real grass, plain and simple. They’ll tell you the artificial stuff tears up knees and ankles in ways natural grass just doesn’t. Owners pushing turf usually have one answer for that: the maintenance bill.

Harbaugh put it pretty plainly back then, calling him a “grass guy.”

“There are good turf fields,” Harbaugh said in 2023. “But I’m a grass guy, you know, I’m with the players on that. I think grass is natural. It plays better and as much as you can—I just appreciate our owner.”

In 2016, the Ravens went back to the Bermuda grass surface at the M&T Bank Stadium, thus concluding 13 years of playing on turf. For Harbaugh, bringing grass back meant something bigger than just the playing surface.

“It kind of epitomizes what Baltimore is all about, the history of football in Baltimore,” the former Ravens coach noted. “To me, a Baltimore football team should be playing on a grass field in Baltimore.”

But Harbaugh has moved on to New York, and the turf debate goes with him. But when the turf is put to its ultimate test, and the injuries start to mount, fans will be curious to know where he stands.