Big Ten owes Gopher players an apology

[MNVCGUY]

In the end the field is the same for both teams. Safety is the concern and sticky turf is worse than a slippery field.

The Kelce brothers have an awesome podcast and they discussed the turf some in the recent episode post super bowl. Basically they both admitted the turf was bad but didn't see it as a major issue because both teams had to play on it and it didn't seem unsafe just slick in places.

 

[Gophers_4life]

I'm not sure how the slickness/condensation issues ever get solved for natural fields at indoor stadiums or outdoor cold weather fields with heating systems. I would doubt it matters if it's grown outside the stadium or with grow lights.

Perhaps Elon Musk could solve it.

The only slickness I'm aware of for natural grass is if the roots are strong enough and so whole chunks rip out when trying to plant. That would seem to be any time a northern outdoor stadium attempts to lay down new grass to "look good".

Not the same game of course, but I've never heard of Allianz (MLS Loons stadium) having any problems.

If you keep the soil warm enough all year, and use grow lights, I don't see why the grass couldn't be good year round.

 

[Gophers_4life]

The Kelce brothers have an awesome podcast and they discussed the turf some in the recent episode post super bowl. Basically they both admitted the turf was bad but didn't see it as a major issue because both teams had to play on it and it didn't seem unsafe just slick in places.

It was the paint, supposedly.

Good thing they made a giant SB mural right in the middle of the field, where the teams tend to spend most of the game.

 

[Some guy]

The only slickness I'm aware of for natural grass is if the roots are strong enough and so whole chunks rip out when trying to plant. That would seem to be any time a northern outdoor stadium attempts to lay down new grass to "look good".

Not the same game of course, but I've never heard of Allianz (MLS Loons stadium) having any problems.

If you keep the soil warm enough all year, and use grow lights, I don't see why the grass couldn't be good year round.

When st Thomas played St. John’s guys were slipping all over the pitch at Allianz

 

[Gophers_4life]

Hadn't heard anything about that, wasn't there.

Don't hear much about MLS guys complaining.


Obviously I wasn't watching that closely, but I don't even remember any times during the SB where I thought "wow the field is crap, guys slipping all over the place".

In the game of football, there are going to be guys falling down even if they're playing on velcro.

 

[MNfootballfan]

My bad on Buffalo having turf, makes sense too.

GB, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Washington should all be forced to put turf down OR invest in a grow light system and proper field warmers (if not already installed) so that the grass can stay alive and heal, all year long.

We did a family trip to Door County and along the way did the Lambeau Field tour. I still hate the Packers after the tour but found the tour interesting when they were talking about the field.

Basically Lambeau is only grass in name. They have turf intertwined into the grass - I forget the percentage, but I know it is over 50% turf. That includes their state of the art heating system which allows the actual grass to never go dormant.

 

[Gophers_4life]

We did a family trip to Door County and along the way did the Lambeau Field tour. I still hate the Packers after the tour but found the tour interesting when they were talking about the field.

Basically Lambeau is only grass in name. They have turf intertwined into the grass - I forget the percentage, but I know it is over 50% turf. That includes their state of the art heating system which allows the actual grass to never go dormant.

Interesting! Did not know that, thanks for sharing.

Found this: https://www.packers.com/news/new-turf-ready-to-welcome-packers-into-2018-season

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.

 

[Word]

When st Thomas played St. John’s guys were slipping all over the pitch at Allianz

That's interesting as you don't see the soccer guys slipping. Soccer-only grass is also cut much shorter than most grass. Not sure why the football guys would slip a bunch.

 

[Gophers_4life]

That's interesting as you don't see the soccer guys slipping. Soccer only grass is also cut much shorter than most grass. Not sure why the football guys would slip a bunch.

Lower levels of football (D3) also don't have nearly the budgets. The guys probably only get one pair of cleats for the season, that have to make due for everything.

Bigger budget programs could afford cleats more suited for each surface.

 

[MNVCGUY]

That's interesting as you don't see the soccer guys slipping. Soccer-only grass is also cut much shorter than most grass. Not sure why the football guys would slip a bunch.

Movements in soccer and football are completely different. Different type of athlete as well as soccer players are going to be much lighter and more agile than most football players.

 

[FireDaveLee]

Well, if they're looking for a solution, I developed my own type of grass.....

It's a hybrid; a cross of Kentucky Bluegrass, Featherbed Bent, and Northern California Sensemilia. The amazing stuff about this is, that you can play 2 football games on it in the afternoon, take it home and just get stoned to the bejeezus-belt that night on this stuff......

 

[Full Speed Ahead]

When st Thomas played St. John’s guys were slipping all over the pitch at Allianz

The first year at Allianz the turf was a disaster. Soccer players were ripping up huge chucks of turf in games. Something about the irrigation drain lines not being installed correctly so the roots of the turf weren't growing. After that first season they pulled it all out and started over, and since then it's been solid.

 

[Gophers_4life]

Movements in soccer and football are completely different. Different type of athlete as well as soccer players are going to be much lighter and more agile than most football players.

What you say is true enough, but not such that a grass can 100% hold up to a soccer match with zero slippage, and then for a football game suddenly guys are slipping all over the place with huge chunks being torn out everywhere.

It wouldn't be a step change like that. (Almost nothing ever is)

 

[Gophers_4life]

To me there's a pretty significant difference between "my guy slipped on the field when he tried to plant and change direction" vs huge chunks of turf being torn out when trying to do that.

The latter is a complete failure and is worse than guys tearing ACL's on artificial turf.


With regards to this thread and its OP, that was the situation that the Gophers and Syracuse had to deal with at Yankee stadium.