Giants/Jets new endzones

[Gothamite]

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.

Lambeau is real. Kentucky bluegrass.

Grassmaster is not an artificial turf like AstroTurf or FieldTurf. It's natural grass, with artificial fibers inserted every so often to reinforce it.

Those fibers make up about 3% of the turf. The other 97% is regular grass of various types, which must still be maintained as usual.

[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.

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

Lambeau is real. Kentucky bluegrass.

Grassmaster is not an artificial turf like AstroTurf or FieldTurf. It's natural grass, with artificial fibers inserted every so often to reinforce it.

Those fibers make up about 3% of the turf. The other 97% is regular grass of various types, which must still be maintained as usual.

Well, it was all real when I was there in '04. Better?

Seriously, how do they do that? Would you want that job? "Yeah hon, I'm only at my own 17-yard line so I'm going to be a little late tonight."

[BBTV]

Yeah, that's what the Eagles have too. It depends on the quality of the grounds crew, the number of events the stadium holds, and of course the local climate. I didn't know that GB had it too - I think the Eagles should try to sign some of their groundskeepers as free agents.

[scottysprings]

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.

FWIW I tore my ACL on FieldTurf last spring (at age 17) and also sprained my ankle on it 2-3 times previously. I doubt it's original but my theory with FieldTurf injuries is simply that longer studs meant for natural playing surfaces dig too deep into the rubber pellets and kinda anchor the player into the turf, leaving ligaments very vulnerable. Despite this, I think if players have access to the properly studded footwear (which they do in the NFL) the probability of these injuries problems can be greatly diminished.

[Cooleyvol]

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.

Lambeau is real. Kentucky bluegrass.

Grassmaster is not an artificial turf like AstroTurf or FieldTurf. It's natural grass, with artificial fibers inserted every so often to reinforce it.

Those fibers make up about 3% of the turf. The other 97% is regular grass of various types, which must still be maintained as usual.

Its definitely natural as Lambeau was one of two fields this past year that won some sort of 'Turf Managers' Field of the Year' award...............the other being my local high school field.

[BBTV]

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.

Lambeau is real. Kentucky bluegrass.

Grassmaster is not an artificial turf like AstroTurf or FieldTurf. It's natural grass, with artificial fibers inserted every so often to reinforce it.

Those fibers make up about 3% of the turf. The other 97% is regular grass of various types, which must still be maintained as usual.

Its definitely natural as Lambeau was one of two fields this past year that won some sort of 'Turf Managers' Field of the Year' award...............the other being my local high school field.

http://www.stma.org/

There's a pro category and a school category, so it's no like the high school was the overall second best in the country. It's also based on applications, it's not like they're at every single school running around on the field. Nevertheless, I definitely think that the STMA should start having some type of televised award show for these things. Think of the ratings. Also, it looks like their next conference is in Austin in January. Can you imagine how fun a sports turf managers conference would be? Sign me up!

[xxvnyg80]

Here is a screengrab of the NY Giants stadium site trying to sell the premium field level seats. looks like the Giants helmet will be at the 50 with the endzones blue.

[powersurge]

Nostalgia aside, I'm shocked that the Bears still have a natural grass surface. They need to do something about it. Each year by November the field looks like 30,000 Elephants just ran a sprint from endzone to endzone 40 times over. Just terrible. I honestly don't care one bit whether a field is grass or field turf, what I hate is the really terrible looking fake $h!t.

[RyanMcD29]

With the Big City Classic this weekend, I wouldn't be surprised if we get a little taste of what the field will look like. Usually lacrosse games at NFL Stadiums keep the football lines on the turf and just add the lacrosse lines on the 30 and 50 yard lines and halfway through the end zones.

[scraw28]

Nostalgia aside, I'm shocked that the Bears still have a natural grass surface. They need to do something about it. Each year by November the field looks like 30,000 Elephants just ran a sprint from endzone to endzone 40 times over. Just terrible. I honestly don't care one bit whether a field is grass or field turf, what I hate is the really terrible looking fake $h!t.

there will never be a synthetic surface put in soldier field.

[The_Admiral]

Well, there was one in the '80s. There won't be one in the future, though, because the Park District is perfectly happy with the grass situation. My guess is that this has something to do with sod-farm-based organized crime. Repeatedly purchase sod on the taxpayers' dime. Mare's gotta guy in da sod bizness, alls ya gotta do is trow him some bizness, y'know? Whyzit gots to be a problem okay?

[crashcarson15]

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.

Nah, it's gotta be up-to-date. The Rogers Centre moved back to AstroTurf for this season from Field Turf.

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.

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.

In my (future...) high school's 10 team conference, 5 teams had turf last year and another's installing it this year. I'd rather watch a game on turf than on a muddy grass surface (which all high school fields turn into 'round here).

The real reason why many of them get turf though is so they can play soccer, football, and lacrosse on the field and practice other sports on the turf outdoors year-round (a la baseball).

[dfwabel]

With the Big City Classic this weekend, I wouldn't be surprised if we get a little taste of what the field will look like. Usually lacrosse games at NFL Stadiums keep the football lines on the turf and just add the lacrosse lines on the 30 and 50 yard lines and halfway through the end zones.

Have your look here

[andrewharrington]

If your field gets tons of use and/or you don't have the means to acquire/properly maintain a quality sod, turf is a good option. I'd gladly take a top of the line grass surface over an artificial one any day, though. First, any doctor will tell you that the less grip a surface has, the healthier it is for your joints, which is why they prefer grass to turf.

When you reach the limit of grip on grass, normally the force will blow out a divot, thus relieving the pressure on the joint and sending you falling to the earth. With turf, there a much higher instance of the cleat sticking in the surface and keeping that force on your joints. Sometimes it is the wearing of incorrect footwear (long cleats) that causes this, sometimes it is the fault of the surface itself.

In addition, the rubber infill gets extremely hot, making these types of artificial surfaces unbearable in the summertime. Imagine how hot your leather car seat gets in the summer, then imagine playing football on it. You can feel the heat through your shoes. I can't imagine any artificial surface being very clean, either. There's not really anywhere for all the germs to go, especially an indoor surface with no drainage system.

[melsereno]

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.

"The new stadium, constructed in 34 months, can be converted from a Giants game to a Jets game in a couple of hours. Buttons can be pushed to change signage from Giants blue to Jets green almost instantaneously. The end zones with the team names can be switched by rolling up two rug sections on the Fieldturf surface.

Even the outside of the stadium can change colors by shining light off the stadium fins. The fins also serve to limit the rain and wind entering the stadium."

Here is the entire article from espn.com: http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/news/story?id=5068619

[scottysprings]

If your field gets tons of use and/or you don't have the means to acquire/properly maintain a quality sod, turf is a good option. I'd gladly take a top of the line grass surface over an artificial one any day, though. First, any doctor will tell you that the less grip a surface has, the healthier it is for your joints, which is why they prefer grass to turf.

When you reach the limit of grip on grass, normally the force will blow out a divot, thus relieving the pressure on the joint and sending you falling to the earth. With turf, there a much higher instance of the cleat sticking in the surface and keeping that force on your joints. Sometimes it is the wearing of incorrect footwear (long cleats) that causes this, sometimes it is the fault of the surface itself.

In addition, the rubber infill gets extremely hot, making these types of artificial surfaces unbearable in the summertime. Imagine how hot your leather car seat gets in the summer, then imagine playing football on it. You can feel the heat through your shoes. I can't imagine any artificial surface being very clean, either. There's not really anywhere for all the germs to go, especially an indoor surface with no drainage system.

Agreed on all accounts. I know I said something similar earlier but the heat issue is also an overlooked aspect. The heat on the field can be insane and your feet and cleats literally burn. It feels like you're standing on hot blacktop.

[OnWis97]

Maybe this is common knowledge around here, but with the two teams playing in the same place, does the NFL have a plan for if both teams are slated to host their respective conference title game?

[TBGKon]

Maybe this is common knowledge around here, but with the two teams playing in the same place, does the NFL have a plan for if both teams are slated to host their respective conference title game?

That's a very interesting point, I wonder if in that case that the NFL would schedule one on a Saturday night and the other the following Sunday afternoon/evening.

[Quillz]

Maybe this is common knowledge around here, but with the two teams playing in the same place, does the NFL have a plan for if both teams are slated to host their respective conference title game?

Either one team would play in the morning and another in the evening, or they'd play on different days.

Of course, there's what? A 1/16th chance that would even happen, right?

[OnWis97]

Maybe this is common knowledge around here, but with the two teams playing in the same place, does the NFL have a plan for if both teams are slated to host their respective conference title game?

Either one team would play in the morning and another in the evening, or they'd play on different days.

Of course, there's what? A 1/16th chance that would even happen, right?

Assuming every team is equal, there'd be a 1/256 chance every year. (1/16 * 1/16). So it's unlikely.

The NFL makes its living off of TV. The two tv networks that cover the games have an expectation of a certain timeslot and sure as hell would not want to be moved to the morning and probably not to another day (presumably the day before, Saturday). Obviously, something would have to be done, as they could not play 'em back-to-back. So it may be one of your options...in fact it must be. I'd guess it's actually written in the contracts with Fox and CBS, though...that's what I was curious about to see whether anyone would know.