End of an era in Canadian FL: Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium to get FieldTurf

[Jaybird]

For many years, Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, home of the Canadian Football League's Edmonton Eskimos, was the only stadium in the league to have a natural grass playing surface.

The 2010 season will mark the end of that era.

Commonwealth Stadium will go with a new FieldTurf surface called FieldTurf Duraspine, which according to Tarkett, the manufacturers of FieldTurf, is the company's top of the line surface. The NFL's New England Patriots will have that surface installed at Gillette Stadium this year.

Here is the link:Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium to get FieldTurf

To me, Commonwealth Stadium was the only place where the real essence of Canadian football occured. I remember when ESPN carried the CFL games and had a show called "From the 55-Yard Line" with Peter Young, three stadiums had natural grass: Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Landsdowne Park (Frank Clair Stadium) in Ottawa, and Winnipeg Stadium (now CanadInns Stadium) in Winnipeg. Then, a few years later, Ottawa went to AstroTurf, as did Winnipeg, who went to the plastic surface to try to get a Triple-A baseball team to come to Manitoba's capital (no Triple-A team went to Winnipeg, but baseball on the AstroTurf was played there when the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the independent Northern League played their first few seasons before CanWest Global Park opened). Commonwealth Stadium was to the CFL what Lambeau Field in Green Bay was to the NFL during the snowy seasons.

For the field design, I think that besides the "EE" logo in the end zones, there should be one at the 55-yard (centre) line, or even better, the "EE" logo with the polar bear.

In my opinion, why couldn't Commonwealth Stadium get a grass surface that Lambeau Field and Atlanta's Turner Field, home of the MLB Atlanta Braves, with synthetic fibers (fibres) mixed in with the grass.

Explanation of Lambeau Field grass/synthetic field

With the exception of one game between the Eskimos and the Toronto Argonauts that will be played at the Universite de Moncton (University of Moncton) in New Brunswick (Nouveau-Brunswick), all the CFL's games this year will be played on artificial surfaces, if I recall correctly. The British Columbia Lions' temporary stadium, at the site of old Empire Stadium, will have an artificial surface.

Of the current CFL stadiums, only BC Place in Vancouver (which will be closed for renovations including a retractable roof, causing them to play at the old Empire Stadium site as mentioned above) and Rogers Centre in Toronto (formerly SkyDome) are the only two CFL stadiums that had artificial surfaces from the start. Stadiums in Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Regina, and Montreal originally had grass before going to artificial surfaces (Footnote: Olympic Stadium [stade Olympique] had a grass surface for the 1976 Summer Olympics, but turf was put in the following year for baseball's Expos and the CFL's Alouettes, which had previously played at such sites as the Autostade and Percival Molson Stadium {Stade Percival Molson}]). Now, the Big O is used for special occasion CFL games such as playoffs, Grey Cup (Coupe Grey), and games with arch-rivals. Most of the Alouettes' games are now played at Molson Stadium, which became a temporary home when a U2 concert was scheduled for Olympic Stadium. Many fans have said that the concert helped save the franchise because it is easier to sell out smaller Molson Stadium than the cavernous Olympic Stadium.

To any CFL teams, bring back real CFL football. Put in a grass surface at a stadium.

[NJTank]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

That is hwat made the eskimos cool, the only real grass team in the CFL.

[NEW.ERA]

They did so they could have more events on the field.

But it really is a sad day.

[Jaybird]

I forgot to mention on my post that there was a time that Commonwealth Stadium had AstroTurf in the end zones but grass the rest of the way. I think it was the time when Edmonton hosted the World University Games (it was sometime in the 1980s but I'm not sure what year) that pieces of AstroTurf that went from behind the goal post (for those who don't know about CFL rules, the goal posts are on the goal line, not at the back of the end zone like the NFL) to cover the areas used for field events (high jump, discus, javelin, shot put).

[Lee.]

If the turf at Commonwealth were any good, then it would be a sad day. Fact is, over the years, the turf has gotten worse and worse, and quite frankly, it's more than past due for replacement.

You've got the northern-most city in the league with natural turf, which by week 6 is torn up and ready for the scrap bin, let alone week 18. I can't imagine that re-sodding the field every week is very cost-effective; if nothing else, it's a complete exercise in futility.

It's far more economically sound to put in FieldTurf, especially in the CFL. To believe otherwise is to also believe that crying over spilled milk is a solid plan.

[infrared41]

"If horses can't eat it I don't want to play on it."

Just wanted to throw that in. I never knew there was only one CFL stadium with natural grass. Or there used to be anyway...

[officeglenn]

If the turf at Commonwealth were any good, then it would be a sad day. Fact is, over the years, the turf has gotten worse and worse, and quite frankly, it's more than past due for replacement.

You've got the northern-most city in the league with natural turf, which by week 6 is torn up and ready for the scrap bin, let alone week 18. I can't imagine that re-sodding the field every week is very cost-effective; if nothing else, it's a complete exercise in futility.

It's far more economically sound to put in FieldTurf, especially in the CFL. To believe otherwise is to also believe that crying over spilled milk is a solid plan.

Here here, Lee. I don't think even the citizens of Edmonton ? myself included ? raised as much of a stink about this when the decision was made in March as the OP did. As was even documented in the story Jaybird linked to, the move will save the city at least $80,000 a year in maintenance costs and the Eskimos president is quoted as saying "[the grass] has been there 33 years and it is pretty compacted. You just have to ask our equipment manager, Dwayne Mandrusiak. That grass gets harder than rock sometimes."

I don't think "real CFL football" has any more to do with natural grass than "real" NFL football, "real" college football or "real" baseball would. If the league somehow wanted to screw with the rules and add a fourth down, that would threaten "real CFL football". But this is a business decision, and the game will live on despite it.