Gibbs Hog Heaven Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Three examples as pertains to football on the desso GrassMaster hybrid system: Denver Broncos, USA Ross Kurcab, turf manager at Denver Broncos: "This field is perfectly able to handle the incredibly busy schedule of 2 to 3 sports clubs, concerts and all kinds of events. In addition it also performs fantastically at the end of the year for NFL football. It is truly a grass miracle!" Oklahoma State University, USA Dan Almond, architect: "This artificial grass is undoubtedly the best of the best. (...) It is just more like natural grass, plays more like natural grass and maintains the same quality for years. I have seen a lot of these fields in Europe. After years of intensive use they still look as good as in the beginning." Overcomes the most extreme weather conditions Head Groundsman Allen Johnson about Lambeau Field: “Our GrassMaster surface, a synthetic and real grass mixture, was challenged with two of the biggest tests possible in the two play-off games in January. I had an idea what to expect, but I just didn’t know how it would hold up. In April, there was grass coming up everywhere. The field survived after a game-time blizzard against Seattle and the game-time arctic-like temperatures against the New York Giants! It’s the best the grass has come back in my time here.” There's more and some great videos on their site: http://www.dessosports.com/hybrid-grass I think too many are caught up in both the traditional idea that football should be played on grass, and 100% natural grass alone; and are still viewing artificial surfaces from the mistakes of the past. Nothing with the new technology could be further from the truth. Hail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Natural grass - more authentic football experience. Pretty much. It may seem piddly, but grass stain and dirt are part of football. ~Bang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~*JurgyFan*~ Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Notice how it's all (and please forgive me here) the older folks who seem to be against it. What...get offa my lawn, you young whippersnapper...but notice that it's not fake!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCClybun Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 This is what the hybrid natural/synthetic turf at Invesco Field looks like. The Linc... Lambeau Field Remember, those fields are hybrids, combos of Grass and Artificial turf. Pretty good, yeah? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbs Hog Heaven Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 If I didn't know NLC, I'd say all three where natural grass fields. Hail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KCClybun Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Can I ask if any of the people advocating having natural grass would have any objections to having the hybrid natural/artificial turf? Still get the grass stains without the field getting ripped up every week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBlueIndian Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Hail NO !!! The skins should hire me as their grassjockey, it would beat the hell out of trying to keep 180 acres of golf turf alive every summer. DEMOLISH FEDEX - GO BACK HOME TO DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
washedup2 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Fed ex field condition is terrible and embarrassing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silencer6091 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 That hybrid turf is NICE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbs Hog Heaven Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Someone should mail Allen on this to put the idea out there and the benefits to the team. Hell, if I can find a contact addy I might well do just that. It might not get anywhere, but it might just plant the seed. (Pun intended.). Hail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balki1867 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I don't get the sentiment and romanticized notions about guys playing in the mud. Natural grass today is a far cry from the stuff guys played in back in the day. Even after a big rainfall, most stadiums have a foot or so of sand under the soil to quickly absorb everything, so the guys end up playing in slightly wet grass. I used to be as anti-turf as they came but given the technological advancements and quality of the fake stuff these days, I'm all for it. Plus its cheaper to maintain, so Danny should love that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAAZ227 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I prefer grass only at outdoor stadiums. My good friends dad built that field and the irrigation/drainage system. They maintained it the first few years. When his contract was up they didn't renew. The company that beat him out has been struggling to maintain the field properly. Apparently they aren't familiar with systems that in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbs Hog Heaven Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 ..... Plus its cheaper to maintain, so Danny should love that. Which ever way you look at it, the pro's FAR outweigh the cons. Given the amount of major sports organizations, particularly in soccer the World over that in a lot of cases far outweigh the majority of NFL teams; I'm real surprised the hybrid has been a slow starter in the US. Hail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Slamming Butcher Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I could probably get on board with the hybrid turf. Never the pellet turf though (although I will concede that Baltimore's pellet turf is better looking on TV than some others...perhaps due to the lower camera angle). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonnyandSam Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Desso GrassMaster. LOL I have two words....Heinz Field. The NFLPA surveys players every two years. Heinz Field was voted one of the worst fields in the NFL in 2006 and 2008 and GrassMaster was ripped out and replaced with natural turf. The Linc has also been lowly ranked. Players have repeatedly and overwhelmingly voted in favor of natural turf fields. It don't matter how pretty it looks on TV. What matters is how it plays. And players have repeatedly graded FedEx Field higher than Heinz and the Linc and about equal to Invesco and Green Bay. Well maintained natural turf fields are preferred by those who play the game for real and not on a video screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinC Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 My learned friend does also advocate the leather helmets and mud ball games of his youth, but he's not figured a way to sell that to you all yet. Hail. Give me time ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjfootballer Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 That Desso sounds like the best of both worlds. I'd give it a try. Plus, you don't get those damn rubber pellets that you see on fieldturf. Frostee Rucker for the Browns made a tackle and his jersey was covered with them when he got up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedskinsNation Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I think with RG3 behind the wheel you've got to go to artificial surface. I know, I know people say it goes both ways...not too many teams have an athlete like we do behind center. Give him an advantage and allow him to play at the max speed. Plus, I hate seeing our crappy turf torn up after 5 plays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Nothing beats grass I played on a synthetic turf in the practice bubble here at the university for flag football. We also played on grass. I can tell you that the synthetic turf actually felt better on my feet and joints than running on grass. Granted, NFL stadiums grass/soil combos might be a lot better than a recreational field but 'natural' isn't always nicer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barefoot Kicker Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Part of the deal is that the soil that is in Fedex Field is a very, very sandy soil. I have talked to a number of players who said that after they get used to it, that it is actually an advantage over other teams coming in and not expecting it. strange... our record doesn't reflect such an advantage... :0P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toe Jam Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 The year I graduated from high school, my school got a new football stadium with synthetic turf. It's nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barefoot Kicker Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 most players prefer grass (69%) Grass was by far the preferred playing surface, with 69 percent of the players choosing it. and Arizona was rated as the best natural grass field in the league... University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals, has the best grass field for the second consecutive survey, receiving 788 votes to 530 for Tampa Bay. http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/story/09000d5d81e1a8d0/article/player-survey-reveals-arizona-indy-have-best-fields-in-nfl I've always been super impressed with how Arizona did theirs.... should be a perfect model for the NEXT Redskins stadium... a retractable dome with a removable field... they could have a removable grass surface dedicated to Redskins games while having another surface for all other events. oh, it only cost about $450million to build their stadium... think of what Danny can do with a Billion+$ stadium.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7Fjawnr4j0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick7423 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 I would retract my previous comment after seeing the hybrid grass system. It would appear as though this could be done at a relatively modest cost and would appear to enhance the playing experience. Whatever makes the stadium better for our boys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaGoonie55 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 When I played football (ending in 98) our home field was CRAPPY grass. Always flooded lol. Later that year, we played a game in Charleston, WV at Laidley Field. That field had the crappiest turf. The next year I did some training at Milan Puskar Field in Morgantown. The difference was amazing. You could plant and cut so hard and not worry about knees or ankles (I have the ankles of an old woman, even then). I'm sure the newer fields are even better. While I'd like to see our guys playing on new turf, I think the decision ultimately lies in them - the players. Would be interested to see what they think. Good thought provoking thread. Hail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skins n' Bones Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Real grass all the way...but what they need to do is fire the entire groundskeeping crew and hire someone better. I understand the field not being so great at the end of the season when it's cold and more difficult to keep up, but for the first regular season game, with more than 2 weeks after the last home preseason game, the field should have been in MUCH better condition than it appeared to be. And if the issue is that the soil used is too sandy, then during the offseason, dig it up and replace it with something better! This is a multi-million dollar franchise, so you'd think they could spend what is necessary to keep the field in the best condition possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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