Grass for Memorial Stadium?
- Thread starter Antwill
- Start date
Grass practice field for now. I think Rhule prefers grass. the new Turf is only couple years old it will be awhile.
I hope not. NudeWestern's field always looks like ***. Maybe they can reach around Chicago to get a proper carpet
I would love to see us go to grass in Memorial Stadium. Northwestern’s field may look awful but there are others that do not. Penn State still has grass and they maintain it beautifully.
It’d be awesome if they did sod like my Packers do, basically Lambeau is 90% real grass with synthetic fibers mixed in and last but not least heating coils underneath the turf. You watch a December game in GB and it’s amazing how much better their field looks and holds up footing vs other northern Grass fields in the NFL!
GREEN BAY - While it might not be visible to the naked eye, a new playing surface awaits the Packers once the team runs out of the tunnel at Lambeau Field on Saturday for Family Night.
The organization recently completed a five-month reconstruction of Lambeau Field's turf, transitioning from the GrassMaster polypropylene fibers it installed before the 2007 season to polyethylene-based SIS Grass.
Although Lambeau Field houses the first SIS Grass field in the United States, the technology has grown in popularity on soccer fields throughout the world over the past decade.
Instead of the previous three-to-four-week timetable to stitch the field, a single machine shipped from Japan worked around the clock from July 9-16. It stitched fibers ¾ inch from each other and seven inches deep, sticking up just under an inch above the ground.
Synthetic fibers are intended to provide a safe stabilization for the sand underneath the field, preventing the ground from getting pushed around and becoming uneven over the course of a long season.
"The whole driver of everything is we want a sand-root zone," fields manager Allen Johnson said. "The only way to get good drainage is to have straight sand, but when you have sand, sand in itself isn't that stable. Picture the beach and then picture our growing season and 300-pound guys pushing on each other. The grass is going to wear and (you need) something to help stabilize the sand and give it some insurance."
The heating coils underneath the field allowed construction to begin in February. Roughly 15-16 inches of material was peeled off in layers and discarded to the parking lot near the Fleet Farm gate through a conveyer set up in the stands between sections 130 and 132 in the south end zone.
With the drain tile on the sub-floor remaining in place, more than 3,500 tons of sand were brought into the stadium – approximately 170 dump trucks – and smoothed over the heating and irrigation systems, which are atop a new laser-graded layer of pea gravel.
While an historic winter storm dumped nearly two feet of snow in mid-April, it did little to halt construction since snow drifts accumulated on the north side of the stadium, where a majority of the work already had been completed.
"We were really lucky. I'd say like four or five days delayed," Johnson said. "A majority of the snow ended up on the north end and the south end – where we were working – we had a little snow near the 50. We had to wait for that to melt but it was all a matter of a few days so it wasn't as bad. It was just a matter of clearing out that four-foot drift in the tunnel that was the problem and that didn't take too long."
Staying on schedule, crews replanted sod in spring and proceeded to stitch more than 2,500 miles of synthetic fiber into the Kentucky bluegrass field.
The organization used the opportunity to also rezone the irrigation system, which needed to be tweaked after the microclimate inside the stadium was altered following the South End expansion in 2014.
In doubling the amount of zones, the field crew can now water individual areas of the field when needed. The Packers took a similar approach with their new grow lights, which now can be amplified or reduced in certain areas of the field.
More pea gravel also was installed to shorten the depth of the root zone from 12-13 inches to 10-11, bringing the heat pipes closer to the surface.
The boilers and plumbing remain the same from the previous heating system, with the exception of the tubing that spans the field and connects to the main pipes. The Packers also switched out the rubber apron around the field to a new non-skid surface.
GREEN BAY - While it might not be visible to the naked eye, a new playing surface awaits the Packers once the team runs out of the tunnel at Lambeau Field on Saturday for Family Night.
The organization recently completed a five-month reconstruction of Lambeau Field's turf, transitioning from the GrassMaster polypropylene fibers it installed before the 2007 season to polyethylene-based SIS Grass.
Although Lambeau Field houses the first SIS Grass field in the United States, the technology has grown in popularity on soccer fields throughout the world over the past decade.
Instead of the previous three-to-four-week timetable to stitch the field, a single machine shipped from Japan worked around the clock from July 9-16. It stitched fibers ¾ inch from each other and seven inches deep, sticking up just under an inch above the ground.
Synthetic fibers are intended to provide a safe stabilization for the sand underneath the field, preventing the ground from getting pushed around and becoming uneven over the course of a long season.
"The whole driver of everything is we want a sand-root zone," fields manager Allen Johnson said. "The only way to get good drainage is to have straight sand, but when you have sand, sand in itself isn't that stable. Picture the beach and then picture our growing season and 300-pound guys pushing on each other. The grass is going to wear and (you need) something to help stabilize the sand and give it some insurance."
The heating coils underneath the field allowed construction to begin in February. Roughly 15-16 inches of material was peeled off in layers and discarded to the parking lot near the Fleet Farm gate through a conveyer set up in the stands between sections 130 and 132 in the south end zone.
With the drain tile on the sub-floor remaining in place, more than 3,500 tons of sand were brought into the stadium – approximately 170 dump trucks – and smoothed over the heating and irrigation systems, which are atop a new laser-graded layer of pea gravel.
While an historic winter storm dumped nearly two feet of snow in mid-April, it did little to halt construction since snow drifts accumulated on the north side of the stadium, where a majority of the work already had been completed.
"We were really lucky. I'd say like four or five days delayed," Johnson said. "A majority of the snow ended up on the north end and the south end – where we were working – we had a little snow near the 50. We had to wait for that to melt but it was all a matter of a few days so it wasn't as bad. It was just a matter of clearing out that four-foot drift in the tunnel that was the problem and that didn't take too long."
Staying on schedule, crews replanted sod in spring and proceeded to stitch more than 2,500 miles of synthetic fiber into the Kentucky bluegrass field.
The organization used the opportunity to also rezone the irrigation system, which needed to be tweaked after the microclimate inside the stadium was altered following the South End expansion in 2014.
In doubling the amount of zones, the field crew can now water individual areas of the field when needed. The Packers took a similar approach with their new grow lights, which now can be amplified or reduced in certain areas of the field.
More pea gravel also was installed to shorten the depth of the root zone from 12-13 inches to 10-11, bringing the heat pipes closer to the surface.
The boilers and plumbing remain the same from the previous heating system, with the exception of the tubing that spans the field and connects to the main pipes. The Packers also switched out the rubber apron around the field to a new non-skid surface.
Field turf and artificial turf gives much better traction. Better traction means being able to make more "violent" sudden changes of direction without your foot slipping on the surface. Better traction leads to more knee injuries and other soft tissue injuries. Field turf and artificial turf is also a harder surface. Banging a head on it or having a shoulder driven into that surface leads to more concussions, shoulder and collar bone injuries.
It's a no brainer why college and pro teams are switching their outdoor practice fields to grass. It's better to see a star player slip on the practice field than suffer a season ending injury. But will Memorial Stadium put in grass? The field turf was new just last year. I get it that programs are flush with massive budgets, but field turf is supposed to last 10 years. I would think that NU will keep their new turf for at least five more years and focus on bigger needs or in the world of college athletics bigger wants.
It's a no brainer why college and pro teams are switching their outdoor practice fields to grass. It's better to see a star player slip on the practice field than suffer a season ending injury. But will Memorial Stadium put in grass? The field turf was new just last year. I get it that programs are flush with massive budgets, but field turf is supposed to last 10 years. I would think that NU will keep their new turf for at least five more years and focus on bigger needs or in the world of college athletics bigger wants.
Last edited:
I think so long as you have a well funded professional grounds crew who will treat it with perfection having a Grass field will be better... that said, How many season ending careers has the Washington Redskins field claimed? when they go to crap and the ground freezes things go bad quick
I agree. I also think it depends on how often it is used. If Nebraska football goes to grass, it would only see about seven games a year. You can say goodbye to hosting the state football playoffs, but that's not always the case.
For my money, bring back the baseball diamonds that double as football fields! Nothing says football like a mix of dirt and damaged grass.
https://www.sportsfieldmanagement.org/natural-grass-athletic-fields/
Interesting read... never thought about the difference in Heat on the field
Interesting read... never thought about the difference in Heat on the field
practice fields are absolutely gorgeous
can't wait until we rip up that plastic bs and play on a natural surface like God intended when he invented football
can't wait until we rip up that plastic bs and play on a natural surface like God intended when he invented football
When asked about it Trev didn't give a straight answer but went on about how all things needed to be considered and there is a desire to have more than just football in Memorial Stadium (which I inferred meant turf would be better for concerts, etc. because it is more durable).
Nebraska always believed strongly that turf improved performance (i.e. speed) and created an advantage for the Huskers. Io_a on the other hand... They put in turf to keep their cheerleaders from grazing.
We should go to grass not only for the fact that it's how football is supposed to be played, but mostly for injury prevention.
Yes you would definitely need heated subsurface. Talking about first round of playoffs being on campus in December. Also need grow lights because days get short and grass goes into dormancy
That's the main reason right there. And then there's the idea that it can be a competitive advantage. Is there a higher ranked/heavy favorite coming to town? Let that grass grow! Don't cut it for three weeks leading up to the game and put down plenty of water during game week.
Trev is obviously more interested in the ability to host a Lizzo concert at memorial stadium than the well being of our football team
I suppose I have to say one of the trigger words to get any attention from the mods to draw any attention. Weren't trolls, obvious ones, reason for sniper shots and greasy grimey gopher gutts?
Heated subsurface never a bad idea
Grow lights maybe but more than likely the surface will be freshly redone for the playoffs
