By Steve Keating
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Gambling and grass are two things that need to be examined and common sense updates made, said the head of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) on Wednesday.
A record 67.8 million American adults are expected to bet $23.1 billion on Sunday’s Super Bowl matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers and the NFLPA said it fully supports league rules to punish players betting on football.
But with sport betting now part of the American mainstream and embraced by many major leagues NFL players should be able to take part as long they are not betting on their own league, says the NFLPA.
NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell pointed to the NFL’s six game suspension of Tennessee Titans Nicholas Petit-Frere last season for betting on non-NFL sports at the club’s facility as a harsh penalty that did not fit the crime.
The NFL and the NFLPA have since amended the league’s gambling policy reducing suspensions for betting inside team facilities from six to two games.
Away from team facilities NFL players can gamble during the regular season on other sports but a much stricter rule will be in place leading up to Sunday’s Super Bowl, the first to be held in Las Vegas, that will bar the Chiefs and 49ers from betting on anything.
“Gambling” I don’t get it,” started Howell, fielding questions during the NFLPA’s Super Bowl press conference on Wednesday. “Can you explain why betting on baseball in a parking lot is a six game suspension.
“I think over time there has been recognition that common sense on some of these legacy issues would prevail so we got the suspension reduced from six games to two games.
Howell also indicated the NFLPA and the league are in agreement on the two-year bans for players betting on their own teams but need to lighten up when comes to betting on other sports.
“On the other hand I’m in an NFL facility and I am in my car and I’m departing and haven’t quite crossed the threshold of the gate and then I am facing a six game plus suspension,” said Howell, pointing to the Petit-Frere case.
“The crime did not really fit the penalty.”
Howell said that one issue all players across the league agree on is getting off artificial turf and playing on grass.
Some NFL stadiums that will be used in the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the U.S. will be converted from turf to high quality grass and the NFLPA is questioning why this cannot be done for football as well.
Data collected by NFL and NFLPA has linked higher injury rates on artificial turf and poorly maintained grass fields.
The issue has surfaced at the Super Bowl with the 49ers complaining of poor field conditions at their University of Las Vegas practice facility.
A survey 1,700 players found that 92% preferred to play on high quality grass, six were indifferent and the balance were the kickers.
“It isn’t nearly up to snuff with what our players deserve,” said Howell about the UNLV field. “Hopefully we’ve gotten to a working condition.”
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Las Vegas. Editing by Michael Perry)
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