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.