Link: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/sep/21/titans-eagles-game-heat-cleats-melt-nfl-temperature

“I’ve never thought about how hot a stadium can be if it’s [synthetic] turf. [The heat] just sits there and bounces up into you,” Mailata said. “[The union] have got to bring it up. This is why we want all grass fields, to create a standard of play in the league where we’re not putting players in dangerous positions if we don’t have to.”

Maybe now that its affecting sports something will actually be fucken done. But most likely no.

I was going to suggest a ludicrous work-around, like air-conditioned football fields, but apparently we already have those...

It says right there in the summary, they're going to talk to the union about getting real grass instead of synthetic turf. That'll solve climate change, right? Close enough?

I wonder if occasionally tossing water on the turf or having the fill material be white instead of black would lower the temperatures.

All sports are to be played on ice from now on. Ice Football, Ice Baseball, Ice Basketball

Not to mention all the microplastics they are exposed to running on and falling into hot shredded rubber.

ice water football, ice water baseball and ice water Basketball. Sorry the ice melted.

Sportbro can't take the heat

Probably nothing compared to just wearing and washing polyester clothes and fabrics

They're called athletes and they already have some white ones

Have you ever had heat exhaustion? It fucking sucks and is incredibly dangerous to go through, leading to heatstroke and other heat-related illnesses and death.

I got it once during a high school football game. It was the 4th quarter and we were down a few points anyway, but when I took the field and literally couldn't even catch my breath and I wasn't even sweating anymore? The ref called the game and sent me to the opposite sideline so they could stuff bags of ice in my uniform. The school we were playing at thankfully had a pool that they also had me float in for a few minutes to cool down.

It was honestly terrible and I wouldn't wish it on most people.

Edit: I'd also like to add: NO ONE CAN TAKE THAT HEAT. That's almost 160°, which is almost fully cooked temp, and 20° more than chicken needs to be done.

Imagine how disgustingly humid that'd be

And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

Water it and you would get a Sauna

So they cancelled the game because that would be utterly stupid to play on, right?

it'll become something you can bet on, then somebody will get busted for installing heaters under the turf

They're just going to do whatever Dubai or the UAE did with their beaches and air condition the ground.

Okay boys, meats back on the menu. Just put the grills on the turn and don't bother turning them on.

Ice Ice Hockey and Ice Field Hockey are gonna be interesting.

They had huge ACs in qatar for the world cup 22. They let one of the hottest places on earth to host a world cup. Imagine the scale of energy required to accommodate the stadium, players, and massive number of visitors for a month in god damn Qatar.

https://safereddit.com/r/Anticonsumption/comments/z09ivx/massive_ac_units_in_the_world_cup_stadiums/

It's going to be held in Saudi Arabia in 2034.

They don't give a shit about anything except the money. And the fans are the fucking same.

Did they pour boiling water on it?

Edit: oh synthetic

Most TPRs (thermoplastic rubber) materials melt above 350F. Most shoes are made from thermoset materials, ie the same material as tires which once cured do not melt. Although the field was likely much too hot for athletes to be comfortable or even safe, the title is complete bullshit.

tires are vulcanized rubber. most modern shoes are not.

I wonder what alternatives people who put on larger events outside have come up with for when it's just too hot to be outside .

Vulcanized rubber usually refers to natural rubber from plant material. Tires are thermoset, EPDM ( ethylene propylene diene monomer). EPDM is vulcanized or cross linked with either a sulpher or peroxide based system. As are shoe soles.

Edit: the long chain polymers are cross linked not cured which changes the plastic or elastomer to a thermoset which will not melt

Air conditioning systems running on diesel generators to cool the stadium with very little insulation

Everybody, I love you

Idk, at 150 degrees, the rubber could be off gassing and they'd be breathing that in while on the ground. Stadiums could also concentrate that gas on the field since there are walls around at least 2 sides, 4 if its a professional field.

Tires are the #1 producer of microplatics, which is where my original idea came from. Although they arent running at 70 mph, so it might not produce as much as a car

Amelia, it was just a false alarm

athletes will never say no, no matter the bullshit.

But what about the adhesives that bind the soles to the cloth parts?

We cant let our kids play baskiceball, its like, insanely dangerous

Yeah, what are the rules to that sport anyways?

There are no rules, baby. We just wail on each other

Outside air-conditioning

bicesketball*

True, but remember that these cleats aren't "most shoes" and include some comparatively exotic materials. They'll stop holding their shape well before 350°F or literal melting into liquid. Having worked with similar materials in the past and having just refreshed my memory with some spec sheets because you piqued my curiosity, I buy it.

• PU shoe adhesives are designed to reactivate at roughly 50–80°C. This would absolutely have turned into goo.
• EVA foam softens and takes a permanent set around 60–90°C. Squished, deformed foam is "melted" to most people.
• Soft TPU and TPR are long past their rated temperature by then, but they creep and get gummy well below their melt point. Players reported "soft plastic" causing issues and I'd bet this is why.

Otherwise, 157°F is one reading of the turf surface (I'm assuming, at least — haven't seen documentation of how this was measured). Contact points, dark spots, a foot grinding in all have a shot at being even hotter.

Cowboys game was 99F outside, 78 inside stadium. How much energy it takes to cool down a stadium that size...

Agree. My experience with Santoprene TPR material is fairly dated. Although the processing point or glass transition temperature of that material is 320-350F, I could see how even moderate temperatures could make shoes feel softer. Especially with the weight and power of a professional footbal player on top of them. But originally I was reacting to the sensationalist headline stating the shoes were melting. Today Ai headlines can basically state anything to get clicks and rarely get called out. We are just desensitized to that garbage. I’ll get off my old man chair now.