Question regarding logos on FielfTurf

[StefOn]

While watching the Sugar Bowl a question came up. It's more of a technical question. Maybe someone is or knows a Groundskeeper.

If they play on artificial turf, are the logos spray painted onto the field or is the turf beeing replaced in that areas?

I saw New England do that with all the lines on their new field with spray. I think that was done because of the little time they had to install it.

[KevinMcD]

I believe it is "spray painted" on and is pressure washed off if they want to change it. It would be verrrrrrrrrrrrry expensive to replace a patch of turf for 1 game.

[StefOn]

I believe it is "spray painted" on and is pressure washed off if they want to change it. It would be verrrrrrrrrrrrry expensive to replace a patch of turf for 1 game.

If you just exchange the endzones... They might be reusable next year.

[HedleyLamarr]

Is the paint pressure-washed off, or just repainted green? There was some video montage of the Georgia Dome's field when they had their 3 games in 4 days, showing the field getting changed from the Peach Bowl to the Falcons game to the Sugar Bowl, and I think they just painted it green. Then again, the camera was fixed from the ceiling, so it's hard to tell from 180 feet up....

When I got to tour the Georgia Dome around 1995, we were in the tunnels under the stands, and if I remember correctly, they had a seperate carpet made for each of the 12 SEC teams' endzones for the SEC Championship, as well as the 9 ACC teams for the Peach Bowl. It sticks out to me, for some reason....

[Hemi711]

Here at the Metrodome they spraypaint the Gopher logos for Saturday. And if I am correct they spray it green and then add the Viking logos. Not 100% sure, but that pressure wash thing sounds reasonable.

[Michigan Dave]

I do some work for the NFL in the lockerrooms and sidelines at Ford Field. They have a FieldTurf Zamboni that they use to take up the lines. They were doing it after the Thanksgiving logo was on the field last year, and to get the Lions logos off for the Super Bowl. I don't know what the machine is called, but it's pretty sweet. I think it uses a chemical, and it also re-lays the rubber bits.

[StefOn]

I don't know what the machine is called, but it's pretty sweet. I think it uses a chemical, and it also re-lays the rubber bits.

That makes sense. If they would just paint it over and over again the paint would turn the field into a rock-hard surface in some areas.

Dave: That means the lines at Ford Field are painted on and not an area where they put in white FieldTurf? We have a practise field with a similar surface and our lines are somehow woven in.

[dfwabel]

Old Astroturf fields, in multipurpose stadiums or domes, used to be rolled up. Domes used to do it for concerts and conventions. The endzones at Giants Stadium used to be interchangable bewteen Giants/Jets/Rutgers and the like. Field turf and its competitors are more permanent, due to the rummber bits embedded ito the field to make it more like natural grass.

These current fields have:

1-the endzone colors "sewn in", thus if changed, has to be repainted

2-have the endzone made in that color from the manufacturer

3-a temporary paint which lasts 1-2 games and washes out with regular soap and water.

A previous poster who talked of a scrubber for the surface is correct. Plastic turf obviously attracts and retains bacteria and blood bourne pathogens, so it needs to be scrubbed. Think of them not like a Zamboni, but more like a riding commercial riding mover or large floor scrubbers.

[eqtmgr]

In most instances, the paint is washed off and then the logos are painted back on. At the Superdome, they do this for the Saints and Tulane. The paint requires some time to dry. It does not get caked on. The outdoor stadiums that have the surface has some types of drainage system, so it can handle the paint and washing it off. In the indoor stadiums, there is a type of machine that cleans off the paint with a brush and then the field crew comes in and paints the logos and such in. In the cases of stadiums being football only, the lines and numbers are inlaid and the hashes and logos are painted, such as the case at Ford Field in Detroit and Atlanta.

[EatSleepJeep]

The MetroDome actually uses a soy-based water soluble ink for the lines, hash marks, baselines, and various field logos although this was not always the case. There are three sets of endzones-one painted for the Gophers, one painted for the Vikes and one blank for the Twins. They are removed and replaced rather than repainted. In the past they used an ink that was touger to remove, and this is why the Vikes only used their V logo at the 50 rather than the viking head while the Twins season was running concurrently. The hash mark spacing is also changed for every switch between NFL/NCAA/High School football games. There is a specialized pressure washer/vacuum that drives over the logos while washing and sucking up the water/ink.

trivia: The '85 all star game at the dome featured a white baseline with red on one side and blue on the other. The ink they used stained the field and was visible into the '86 baseball season despite repeated attempts to remove it.

more trivia: The only line that's never modified is the first baseline. It also functions as the football goalline.

[baseballking99]

This topic is very intresting. If anyone else has more info on this stuff could you post it. I would really like to read it. Thank You

[sacker12]

At the Superdome, they paint the emblems on the field with a biodegradable paint. After the game, they washed off the New Orleans Bowl emblems and then painted on the Sugar Bowl emblems.

[BigDemonNyc]

The school I work at, Holy Cross is Queens, completely refurbished the athletic field next to the school over the course of last year, installing field turf. I taught in a clasroom facing the field and got to watch the whole process-- truly fascinating I might add. It's a small space, with only about 50 yards of field and a small track, but the football team practices out there and gym classes use the field for softball.

The center logo on this field was sewn in using different colors of field turf grass-- green, yellow, black, and white. Here's a picture of the installation.

You can see the cut pieces of turf. I went out there while this was going on to take a look at the logo-- there is yellow, white, and black plastic "grass" stitched into the main turf rolls. All of the lines and markers on the field are sewn in as well.

The school website had a big thing on the field last year, but they took it down, or else I'd show a finished picture. But here is what the center logo looks like:

The field is very nice looking, the only bad thing is the lack of land at the school, or else they'd have put out a whole football/soccer field, like the one installed st St. Anthony's in Huntington. That is a beautiful complex for a high school. They also used sewn in endzones there-- black turf and gold letters.

[DrBear]

At Wisconsin, the year they switched to Field Turf, they didn't get their order in in time for the W at midfield and the end zones as it would have required a special order of red 'Turf.' So for the first year, they had Notre Dame-style slanted lines in each end zone. Over the off season, they ripped those end zones out and put in red end zones and the W. (I remember seeing a webcam shot of the field with the plain red turf put in and the WISCONSIN BADGERS letters scattered near the end zones.)

[Roger Clemente]

Anyone else besides me tempted to actually uproot the entire lawn outside their house and replace it with FieldTurf?

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

[KevinMcD]

Anyone else besides me tempted to actually uproot the entire lawn outside their house and replace it with FieldTurf?

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

I would love that except for the price of it.

[Roger Clemente]

Anyone else besides me tempted to actually uproot the entire lawn outside their house and replace it with FieldTurf?

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

I would love that except for the price of it.

I wonder how easy it is to clean off FieldTurf if a dog does his business on it, or if the neighborhood milkman vomits on it after another one of his trademark benders...

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

[slapshot]

Anyone else besides me tempted to actually uproot the entire lawn outside their house and replace it with FieldTurf?

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

There must be some other people who don't mind constantly picking little black pellets off their socks and legs and don't mind the extra 10°-15° of heat generated by the turf in the hot summer sun.

[Roger Clemente]

Anyone else besides me tempted to actually uproot the entire lawn outside their house and replace it with FieldTurf?

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

There must be some other people who don't mind constantly picking little black pellets off their socks and legs and don't mind the extra 10°-15° of heat generated by the turf in the hot summer sun.

You're right...

I'll use concrete instead.

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

[benpc21]

I could be wrong, but I beleive M&T Bank Stadium is the only NFL filed to have the endzones, logos, and even lines made out of the colored pieces of plastic like were mentioned in the piece about Holy Cross. I could be wrong on this, but the pictures of their field once they switched to Field Turf are so vivid, that it looks like they have to be colored plastic. The stadium used to host the NCAA Mens Lacrosse Final Four but hasn't since the stadium added field truf (I believe). I would assume that you would have to "green" out all the football lines to make that work now. If any one has anymore info or can correct me if I'm wrong, I'd be interested in finding out, as it seems to be the only NFL team that has gone that far with Field Turf.