Two Items

The New York Times had a nice piece about the "Frozen Tundra" of Lambeau Field and how they keep it so nice and green so late into the year. Money quote:

The contraption fools Mother Nature. Johnson used the lights 24 hours a day from October to early December, moving them every other day between games. Because the lights hang about six feet above the grass, other groundskeeping duties — mowing and watering, mostly — can continue, though the blast from a high-pressure sprinkler can occasionally shatter one of the long, clear incandescent bulbs.

In other news: George Toma was inducted into the Major League Baseball Groundskeeper Hall of Fame!

Until next time.

I'm Back?

I caught some of the Bengals game against the Ravens today and noticed the turf was 'striped' similar to baseball diamonds.

Until next time.

Quick Hits!

Three quick things.

The Pinstripe Bowl was played at Yankee Stadium and this picture sums it up very nicely.



The Colts were ousted from the NFL Playoffs by the Jets this past Saturday. The remnants of the old AFC logo were visible under the paint for the new AFC logo. In fairness to the Lucas Oil Stadium crew, they use FieldTurf where the fibers themselves are colored, not painted. It's tough to cover something up. I'm sure they'll have the new logo in by next season.



And lastly...

The NHL Winter Classic was in Pittsburgh on New Years Night. The NHL is picking up the tab for the new field currently being installed. Money quote:

The NHL is paying to have the turf at Heinz Field replaced in time for the division playoff Jan. 15. It seems the damage done by constructing a hockey rink for the Winter Classic made the field unplayable.

Until next time.

The Park District Bears Down

Soldier Field is under the control of the Chicago Park District. And, on the whole, they do a pretty good job. The climate in Chicago isn't the most friendly for a natural grass surface, so sometimes they need a little help.

From Sherwin-Williams.

Example 1:



Example 2:



Notice how the end zone is just a little greener than the field or the area behind the end zone? The logos are also nice and bright. No one can fault them for touching up at this point in the season. But it's curious why they didn't spruce up their midfield logo.

I'm going to put out a feeler to the CPD to find out why the sidelines and goal lines were painted red.



The Bears will be able to check out a well maintained midfield logo this Sunday when they travel to Lambeau Field to take on their division-rival Packers.



Until next time.

Down on Main Street

I like to call the the area between the hash marks, "Main Street." By definition, it gets the most foot traffic on the field. Every play starts there and it is a difficult area to maintain.

The Candlestick Park grounds crew has been having trouble, as we can see below...



and here...



Until next time.

Football at Yankee Stadium

November 20 will see Army and Notre Dame play at Yankee Stadium.



Until next time.

Red Turf Installation Photos

The red turf (previously) of Eastern Washington University has been installed and the Eagles have put up a slideshow.

Until next time.

America's Oldest Ballpark Turns 100

The New York Times has a nice feature on Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. It opened August 18, 1910, 100 years ago.

Until next time.

Flood!!

Heavy rains in Iowa recently caused the Squaw Creek near Ames to flood parts of the campus of Iowa State University. Jack Trice Stadium was nearly surrounded by water but the field did not flood.



Hilton Coliseum, the ISU basketball arena, was not so lucky. This shot shows the nine feet of water inside the arena with the basketball court floating!



The ISU women's volleyball team will play their home games at Ames High School. No dollar figure of damages has been released.


In better news, the pitch at Wembley Stadium was relaid using the Desso system. It's the system used at Mile High Stadium that has fibers 'sewn' into the dirt that gives the roots of the grass something to attach to. We'll see how this hold up. I suspect that the problems at Wembley relate to the alleged lack of air circulation. But what do I know, I'm just a blogger.

Lastly, the AstroTurf at the Florida Citrus Bowl is almost done.



Until next time.

Citrus Bowl Installation Web Cam!

The folks at AstroTurf are installing their product in the Citrus Bowl currently and have set up a web cam for our viewing pleasure. Here's a still from earlier today:



Until next time.

It's Been a While

It's really hard to have a blog when you have a full time job!
'Nuff said.

Boise State is getting their blue turf replaced for free.

Texas Tech got a new practice field.

Eastern Washington has begun installation of their red turf.



That building in the background looks like an East German apartment building circa 1967.



I haven't written anything in months and completely missed blogging about the World Cup and their stadiums.
But, I did find this video showing Qatar's proposed stadiums for their 2022 World Cup bid. Enjoy



Until next time. And I promise I won't be gone so long!

New Turf for the Ravens

M&T Bank Stadium got some new turf recently:

and....embedding the Baltimore Sun video doesn't seem to be working. Who's in charge over there? Bubbles? Never mind.

Here's a link to the article.

Instead, here's a video of sod being installed at M&T Bank Stadium in advance of last summer's AC Milan/Chelsea soccer match.



Happy Mother's Day!

Until next time.

LP Field Flooded

Storms in Tennessee recently left 13 inches of rain behind. As a result the field and the locker rooms at LP Field in Nashville flooded. The floods have killed 11 and thousands have been displaced, so, all things considered, your football stadium getting wet isn't such a big deal.



The people of Tennessee need assistance, and donating to the Red Cross is a good way to help.

Until next time.

The Old Firm Derby .....and the Green Monster?!?!?

The most intense soccer rivalry is in Scotland. Rangers (in blue, below) and Celtic (white with green hoops) both reside in Glasgow and when they play it's known as the "Old Firm Derby"



Recently, I came across a piece about the possibility of both teams playing a pre-season game at Gillette Stadium. It interested me, but not enough to get me fired up to post it.

Then, this morning, I was directed to a piece on the BBC news site saying that this game might be played at Fenway Park! I'm not a fan of soccer in baseball parks and the capacity at Gillette is much higher than at Fenway, but it would be something to see those two old rivals (first meeting: 1888) in one of the oldest ballparks in America. Money quote from Sam Kennedy, Red Sox C.O.O.:

"We recognise it's a very special match between two very historic teams and the thought is that a very historic venue like Fenway Park would be appropriate to host that rivalry.

"We're hopeful that we can make it a reality."

I'll keep an eye on this. After having the Winter Classic earlier this year, it would be quite the feather in Fenway's cap to host the Old Firm Darby.

Until next time.

New Blue Turf

Just a quick one today.



Boise State is famous for having blue turf. But, sometimes the fibers can have something of a sheen or glare that irritates the fans and doesn't look so good on television. The fine folks at FieldTurf were aware of the situation, and will work this summer to get the situation resolved. Money Quote:

Athletic director Gene Bleymaier says light-reflecting fibers in the current artificial field cause problems for people watching the game in person or on television.

Bleymaier says FieldTurf wants to fix the problem and is doing it for free. The school did not estimate the cost of the project.

Big thanks to Tim Snyder for the tip on this one! He's got a blog of his own: Red Rider Sports Blog, check it out. We bloggers are always putting each other over, that's how we roll.

Who knew somebody was actually reading this?!?!?

Until next time.

Two Teams...Two Cities...One Stadium?

Well, I'll be the first to admit this isn't a fresh item, but I've been busy.

The San Francisco Bay area's two NFL teams play in stadiums that have seen better days. Candlestick Park opened 50 years ago. (The 49ers started playing there in 1971.) The Oakland Coliseum opened its doors in 1966. Each team has been working on a new stadium but nobody is in danger of getting anything done soon.
But that hasn't stopped an Alameda County politician who just so happens to be on the board of the Oakland Coliseum from getting the Coliseum to study the issue of one stadium for both teams.
Money Quote:

"There is only going to be one stadium in the Bay Area, and it's not going to be in Santa Clara," said Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, a member of the Coliseum board who voted with his colleagues last week to spend $125,000 on a study of a new Oakland stadium.

It probably makes sense on a number of levels for the two teams to share a stadium, but I don't think it's going to happen.

But there's more. June 8 will see voters in Santa Clara going to the voting booth to decide on Measure J. (Named for Jerry Rice?) This will provide funding for a stadium for the 49ers. There is opposition. Money Quote:

It's believed in some circles that the Santa Clara project ultimately won't be viable unless the 49ers and the Raiders share the facility. It's also believed that the Raiders strongly prefer sharing a facility in Oakland.

Either way, the vote is going forward on June 8. A positive outcome doesn't guarantee that the stadium will be built. If the "nays" win, it's pretty much dead.

I just don't see those two teams sharing a stadium. We'll see how this develops

Until next time.

Now THIS Man Is Into Stadiums!

Do you think it's odd that I pay attention to the field, as well as the game being played on it? I understand, I don't take it personally.

I've got nothing on Scott Poleykett of England. He loves soccer and visiting the multitude of 'grounds' around England. He's made it to over 2,400 so far. Money quote:

He began his hobby 12 years ago when he photographed the old Wembley Stadium with his father.

Afterwards he bought a picture book with information about every football ground in the country. "It led to a bit of an obsession," he said.

Wow! I thought I was impressive because I've been to two old Minnesota Twins stadiums.

Until next time.

Target Field is Open!!

The Minnesota Twins opened their brand-new ballpark with a 5-2 win over the Red Sox yesterday!



The Twins ground crew has opted to go with a simple criss-cross roller pattern on the lovely real grass. It was a beautiful day for the game.

Here's a nice video tour of the new ballpark. Pay attention to the part about some of the seats having wooden backs!



New ballparks don't spring up overnight; the groundbreaking for Target Field was August 30, 2007. No new ballpark post would be complete without a time lapse video of its construction. MLB apparently doesn't like people to embed it's videos so I'll just leave the link here.

It's a beautiful ballpark, and someday I'd love to sit in any one of the 39,504 seats and take in a game.

Until next time.

Adios Texas Stadium!!

Texas Stadium was imploded this morning.



Until next time.

New Jersey: Home of New Stadiums

Things have been quite busy in The Garden State as of late! The New York Red Bulls opened their brand new soccer-specific stadium recently, and today was the 'soft-opening' of the New Meadowlands with a lacrosse triple-header.

The Red Bulls hosted the Chicago Fire in their first Major League Soccer game March 27 and the reviews are positive. The New York Times had a nice animated infographic on the stadium. You can check it out here.

Just up the expressway (sorry, I don't have the exit number), New Meadowlands stadium opened today with three lacrosse games. I don't have any quality photos yet, but here is a nice video about the stadium.

Discussing the inside of the new Meadowlands Stadium

Next sporting event there will be a soccer friendly between Mexico and Ecuador.

Outside New Jersey, tomorrow, Sunday April 11 will see out Texas Stadium. It hosted it's first Cowboys game October of 1971, nearly 40 years ago. I'll post some video of the implosion this week.

Until next time.