Giants/Jets new endzones

[the admiral]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09226/990839-66.stm

Hm, says here that they went back to natural grass, and it was actually the Grassmaster weave that made the field such slippery slop in that 2007 game with the Fins. Interesting.

[BlueSky]

Lambeau went to the Grassmaster surface in '06 according to media reports I found. It was still grass when I was there in '04.

[tBBP]

Turf, shmurf...what I'm really curious to see is how, or if, this place lights up for both Giants and Jets home games. I remember reading somewhere that this place is somehow supposed to light up in blue for Giants games and green for Jets games. I drive by this place at least twice per month (one of these days, Imma actually try to go in there)...looks mighty nice from the turnpike, especially compared to the old Giants stadium next to it.

[TruColor]

Here's the latest NFL venue report from my database...it includes the latest field surfaces as well...this shows all of the current (as of 2010) facilities, sorted by year opened. The year in parentheses indicate major renovation years.

[BBTV]

Interesting. I know that Lincoln Financial Field was that sand-based grass/plastic woven thing (Grassmaster I thought) up until at least 2008, which was the last time I was actually on the field. I can't imagine that they tore it up and changed it to just plain natural grass. Im'a has to look into this.

[TruColor]

Interesting. I know that Lincoln Financial Field was that sand-based grass/plastic woven thing (Grassmaster I thought) up until at least 2008, which was the last time I was actually on the field. I can't imagine that they tore it up and changed it to just plain natural grass. Im'a has to look into this.

Yeah, I could be a bit out-of-date...I'll look into it as well.

[SmoothieX]

I wish the NFL would mandate natural grass. Flubbertuf sucks. I like good old fashioned grass stains. MLB teams are all pushing toward grass (2 turf teams left), I wish football would do the same.

Reliant Stadium uses grass. Wes Welker's knee injury happened because of loose sod.

I miss Welker. That was a sad play.

I love some local youtube spoofer that said something to the effect of, "Way to re-sod the field after the eatabagofdicks.com bowl!"

[The Dogg]

I always thought they had used FieldTurf in the Superdome.

[Harmening]

Here's the latest NFL venue report from my database...it includes the latest field surfaces as well...this shows all of the current (as of 2010) facilities, sorted by year opened. The year in parentheses indicate major renovation years.

Never realized there were that many different names for turf.

[BBTV]

It's not just different names, but entirely different brands. "FieldTurf" is a company - not just a name for that style of turf.

[BlueSky]

I always thought they had used FieldTurf in the Superdome.

Me too. Checked out the Sportexe website. Pretty interesting. Shaw Carpets just bought Sportexe and the press release says their combined carpet/turf experience will create an "unstoppable force" in the synthetic playing field surface industry. Now that's world-class spin.

One thing that has always amazed me is the number of high schools with synthetic turf. Even back in the mid-90's when my daughters were in school, a number of school stadiums had turf. Thinking back to when I was in high school in the mid-70's, I didn't play football but the field was pretty bad. The groundskeepers did their best but it was uneven, bare in spots, and sure didn't look like this high school field shown on Sportexe's website:

Our team's equipment wasn't much better back then, sometimes guys had mismatched uni pieces or helmets without logos, etc. It wasn't a poor district, pretty average in fact, that's just the way it was. Yeah, well, things have changed. I was in Sports Authority the other day and saw QB flak jackets for Pop Warner players.

[pcgd]

I wish the NFL would mandate natural grass. Flubbertuf sucks. I like good old fashioned grass stains. MLB teams are all pushing toward grass (2 turf teams left), I wish football would do the same.

How do domes keep Natural Grass alive?

I've actually played real football games on the stuff and it is awesome. It feels like real grass under your feet and regardless of conditions you have a consistent grip with your cleats. That means if its raining an inch an hour, you're grip is just like if its dry out.

I love the nostalgia and watching a muddy game like the next guy, but if there is a better solution that keeps players of all ages safer, why not use it?

[BBTV]

I wish the NFL would mandate natural grass. Flubbertuf sucks. I like good old fashioned grass stains. MLB teams are all pushing toward grass (2 turf teams left), I wish football would do the same.

How do domes keep Natural Grass alive?

I've actually played real football games on the stuff and it is awesome. It feels like real grass under your feet and regardless of conditions you have a consistent grip with your cleats. That means if its raining an inch an hour, you're grip is just like if its dry out.

I love the nostalgia and watching a muddy game like the next guy, but if there is a better solution that keeps players of all ages safer, why not use it?

Yeah. If an investment in a surface like this decreases the liklihood that your $16 million dollar athletes go down for the year due to horrible surfaces, it kinda seems like a no brainer.

Blue Sky - when I grew up (in Southeastern PA), a few schools had old-school astroturf, but it was mostly grass. Now, it's probably getting close to 50/50 grass / turf (and as you can imagine, with the population, that's a lot of schools / fields.) I was shocked to see my old high school now has a football-only "stadium" with Fied Tuf (and the permanent markings like in your photo), and a soccer-only "stadium" that also has FT and it's own perm. markings.

[Gothamite]

I love the nostalgia and watching a muddy game like the next guy, but if there is a better solution that keeps players of all ages safer, why not use it?

That argument hasn't been made.

In fact, the evidence appears to suggest exactly the opposite, when you talk about FieldTurf.

Frankly, I think Grassmaster is the perfect solution - real grass (Kentucky bluegrass in Lambeau's case), with reinforcing threads stitched in every so often to keep it in shape.

[TruColor]

I wish the NFL would mandate natural grass. Flubbertuf sucks. I like good old fashioned grass stains. MLB teams are all pushing toward grass (2 turf teams left), I wish football would do the same.

How do domes keep Natural Grass alive?

I've actually played real football games on the stuff and it is awesome. It feels like real grass under your feet and regardless of conditions you have a consistent grip with your cleats. That means if its raining an inch an hour, you're grip is just like if its dry out.

I love the nostalgia and watching a muddy game like the next guy, but if there is a better solution that keeps players of all ages safer, why not use it?

Well as we all know, University of Phoenix Stadium has a movable field...Reliant Stadium trucks the field in on palettes.

[Hat Boy]

Here's the latest NFL venue report from my database...

I see it lists the New Meadowlands' capacity at 82,500. I don't understand how, but in the old stadium, wasn't there a different capacity for Giants games and Jets games?

[Perfect Zero]

I wish the NFL would mandate natural grass. Flubbertuf sucks. I like good old fashioned grass stains. MLB teams are all pushing toward grass (2 turf teams left), I wish football would do the same.

How do domes keep Natural Grass alive?

I've actually played real football games on the stuff and it is awesome. It feels like real grass under your feet and regardless of conditions you have a consistent grip with your cleats. That means if its raining an inch an hour, you're grip is just like if its dry out.

I love the nostalgia and watching a muddy game like the next guy, but if there is a better solution that keeps players of all ages safer, why not use it?

I've been told the exact opposite from many of my friends on the football team. Many of them hate the rubber beads that get everywhere in the uniform, and many of them blame their injuries on the field because the fake stuff just doesn't give as well as natural grass. I can't say from experience, but the school I used to go to wants to move where they play their games because of that (and well other factors).

[Hat Boy]

Many of them hate the rubber beads that get everywhere in the uniform, and many of them blame their injuries on the field because the fake stuff just doesn't give as well as natural grass.

Field Turf is never going to feel like real grass, but it "gives" consistently across the whole field from Aug-Jan. A nice, pristine field in a northern tier stadium is going to be a mess come Dec and Jan. There will be dead spots that just give way when a player cuts, which is a recipe for injuries.

Plus, Field Turf always looks good for TV, which is a factor with the NFL and NCAA

Field Turf is not the ideal surface, but it solves some of the issues of grass and of Astro Turf.

[Gothamite]

I'd say an 88 percent higher incidence of ACL injuries means FieldTurf raises issues of its own.

You're right - it's not ideal. More research is needed to see how far from ideal it really is.

[NJTank]

Lambeau went to the Grassmaster surface in '06 according to media reports I found. It was still grass when I was there in '04.

I always thought Lambeau was real, wow if that is the case, then I must say that surface is the best.