NFL's international playbook calls for vigilance on field quality, from Sao Paulo to Bernabeu

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LONDON (AP) — Nick Pappas rattles off the types of field surfaces at international stadiums the way a quarterback calls plays in the huddle.

Carpet hybrid ryegrass at Croke Park in Dublin. Stitched hybrid bluegrass at Olympiastadion in Berlin. Stitched hybrid ryegrass at Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid. Those three are the new host cities this season on the NFL’s busy international calendar.

As the NFL's field director, it’s Pappas’ job to make sure the international playing surfaces meet league standards. Expanding American football around the world presents some challenges.

“Our athletes are very unique in the fact that they’re bigger and stronger and faster than most athletes,” Pappas said.

And when the likes of 300-pound linemen plant their feet and smash into each other for three hours on a Sunday, it can take a toll on a surface intended for soccer.

“So, the needs of the surface drastically increase when compared to soccer, where players are moving in space, moving in the open,” Pappas said in an interview with The Associated Press. “The style of game that they play is a little bit less demanding on the field.”

Here's some more to know about the international fields:

Most European fields use cold-season grass, which is either ryegrass or bluegrass, or a blend of the two, Pappas said. Warm-season Bermuda grass is utilized at most of the natural-grass NFL facilities in the U.S.

Bermuda grass is stronger and provides more stability.

“Typical ryegrass and bluegrass can be a little bit more challenging, which is why we end up relying more on hybrid fields when we go internationally, and that’s already typically what’s being used by those locations,” said Pappas, who started overseeing the international fields in the 2022 season.

The hybrid versions still are mostly natural grass but reinforced with synthetic fibers comprising up to 7% of the surface, Pappas said.

Croke Park's “carpet” hybrid surface was rolled into place more than three weeks before the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Minnesota Vikings 24-21 in Ireland’s first regular-season NFL game. Wembley Stadium, where the Jacksonville Jaguars will face the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, uses the same type of surface.

At the Bernabeu, the synthetic fibers are stitched into the grass.

“A machine comes in and drives fibers about 7 inches down into the ground, and those fibers stick all the way up to the canopy of grass," he said. "Like all the hybrid systems, that’s what is providing a lot of the traction and stabilization.”

The stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where the NFL has held two games, also uses a stitched system, Pappas added.

On Nov. 16 in Spain's first NFL game, the Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders will play on the same hybrid-grass surface that Kylian Mbappé and his Real Madrid teammates do.

"Correct, that exact surface,” Pappas said.

Early in its Bernabeu renovation, Real Madrid had outlined a plan similar to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a retractable grass field making way for a synthetic one to be used for American football.

Bernabeu’s multi-panel pitch is preserved underground.

“It’s all climate-controlled, and then they bring that field out when they are ready to play on it,” Pappas said.

“The Bernabeu, because they had not designed the stadium in conjunction with us, like Tottenham did — and didn’t build it specifically for NFL, there was still a lot to figure out when we started determining where we were going to play in Spain.”

Soccer pitches are shorter than what's needed for the NFL, so they had to be sure there was enough room.

“Ultimately, we landed on being able to utilize their technologies and then build off of that versus having to just do a full brand-new artificial field in there,” Pappas said.

At Olympiastadion in Berlin, a stitched hybrid bluegrass field was installed this summer. The Indianapolis Colts face the Atlanta Falcons there on Nov. 9.

In 2018, the NFL moved a game out of Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on short notice back to the U.S. because of poor field conditions.

Germany's first-ever regular-season game was a big success three years ago. Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-16 at Allianz Arena in Munich. The only downside? The slippery field.

The home stadium of Bayern Munich had a 100% natural grass field at that time. One Seattle player complained about flying 10 hours to play on a “terrible” field. Bucs coach Todd Bowles said it was “real slippery.” The next summer, Bayern Munich switched to a hybrid field.

“We’ve continued to learn that it’s important for us to make some of the changes we believe are necessary on the front end to ensure the quality on the back end,” Pappas said.

The NFL pushed to get a hybrid field for its two games at Deutsche Bank Park in Frankfurt in 2023.

Postgame at Croke Park, Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said the field was “pristine." Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson described the grass as “a little slippery.”

Pappas, who also works on the Super Bowl field each season, knows criticism is part of the job.

“I’ve taken the good and the bad on the broadcast side. I’ve seen good fields perform really well, and I’ve seen fields perform not as well,” he said.

"Every single game that I do is an opportunity to learn something, and we take something new away from it and it makes us better for the next one."

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