by LIZ BONIS & MEGAN BURGASSER, WKRC || Click here to read the full story.

CINCINNATI (WKRC) – One of the upgrades at Paycor Stadium this offseason is expected to be closely watched for its potential to help reduce injury risk.

New turf field is being installed at Paycor. Player safety is said to be top of mind in this decision. Performance data and NFL recommendations were also considered in this decision.

But here’s a few other things to know from sports medicine specialists at OrthoCincy:

“The new field that they are putting in is a newer update on an artificial turf surface. They had a split turf surface as the last generation they had in, and there was some studies that showed maybe a subtle increase in injury risk with that split turf-type field, which is why they’ve converted to this fiber core field,” said Dr. Adam Metzler of OrthoCincy Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine

So, Paycor Stadium is installing what’s called the FieldTurf Core system. In a news release, the Bengals said these systems are known for their quality, safety and performance.

“If you look at the overall data between artificial turf and natural grass, there’s very few differences between the two. And with the NFL athletes, there might be a slight uptick in knee injuries, which is why a lot of them are going to this newer turf that’s out there that may potentially reduce the rate of injury to the NFL athletes, which is why many of the teams have gone to that,” Dr. Metzler said.

Click here to learn more information about this turf upgrade.