OT: Grass installation for this weekend's soccer game
Sorry if this has been discussed here already, but I didn't know they were putting down sod for this weekend's game. Some photos of the process on Mlive, plus a link to a related article on the company doing it and the process:
If you live near the stadium and could use some sod for your lawn, maybe DB will cut you a deal next Monday.
If you live near the stadium and could use some sod for your lawn, maybe DB will cut you a deal next Monday.
There's a WHOLE lotta money to be made here!
/DB'd (interpret initials how you like)
Present-day Michigan Stadium with natural grass is trippy.
Never thought I'd see it, even though it's above the turf field and will be torn out shortly after.
you are young. We played on grass over a dozen seasons ago
I remember watching Michigan playing on a natural grass field.
The first one was from 1927-1968 and the second edition of natural grass was from 1991-2002.
It's just weird seeing the modern Michigan Stadium with the boxes/suites featuring a grass field.
Funny story... they made the transition from grass to astro turf over the summer after my senior year. It was the same year we had that huge power outage that took down the eastern half of the US for like 24 hours.
Every sane person was probably trying to stock up on water and emergency supplies but as dumb college kids our first thought was we had to drink all the beer and eat all the food before it went bad. We had a huge cook out on my block and it ended up turning into a pretty wild party. Around 3am, as things were dying down, it finally struck us just how *dark* and quiet A2 was. It was pretty eerie.
After a while, we decided it would be the perfect opportunity to break into the stadium and sneak in a few downs of touch football on the new turf. We ended up jumping a few fences and squeezing through a gap in a gate and got onto the field. They must have just completed it because I had been in there a week or so earlier and it wasn't done yet. We ran a few plays, did a punt return, and I even made my friends snap and hold the football so I could kick a field goal (I missed). It is quite possible that my friends and I played the first down of football on that new turf way back in the summer of 2003. I still have a brick somewhere I stole on our way out.
Funny? It isn't funny if you don't give us the result.
Victory? If so, a light-hearted story that we can all enjoy.
Loss? We blame you for any and all losses on the turf.
I don't remember, we all lost something that day I guess.... brain cells.
See? The critics are right. The Turf causes injuries.
Important distinction. Just about everyone uses FieldTurf now. This is the synthetic fibers with the black rubber pebbles in it.
The reason they went [back] to natural grass in the early '90s was the problems with the old-style artificial turf, like AstroTurf. AstroTurf eats ACLs for lunch; FieldTurf does not. AstroTurf is green plastic on top of concrete; FieldTurf is long synthetic fibers which are held in place with the pebbles.
The reason so many teams have gone to FieldTurf is that it is cheaper to maintain than natural turf without the injury risks.
On a tangent: there was much discussion at the time about the use of natural turf at Michigan Stadium. Michigan installed a system called P.A.T. (prescription athletic turf) which put a layer of dirt and grass over a perforated base with vacuum pumps that allowed rain to be drained from the field very quckly, as in: real time 1"/hour of rain or something like that.
To manage PAT though, you need to treat the grass differently than a regular grass field. Some accused the Michigan staff of NOT doing this and blamed those choices for the fact that the PAT had a tendency to come up in big chunks, die as a result, and which resulted in the field being resodded numerous times, in some cases multiple times per season.
Bush Turf - the contractor - said that they were trying to have this done by Thursday and that the department basically wants the field back to football by Monday, so the window is not huge for them to undo what they are doing at all. I believe they also said something about repurposing most of the sod, which makes me think that it leaves Michigan with them early next week, although I could use some of it in one spot out back, that's for sure.
Sorta off topic, but does anyone have any pics or graphics of how a regulation soccer field fits into the playing area of the Big House? Seems like it would be pretty cramped, no?
Is it actually a regulation size field? Since it's only an exhibition, I could see them playing on a slightly smaller field to make it fit without having to use platforms into the stands...
A soccer-specific stadium typically has amenities, dimensions and scale suitable for soccer in North America, including a scoreboard, video screen, luxury suites and possibly even a roof. The field dimensions are within the range found optimal by FIFA: 110–120 yards (100–110 m) long by 70–80 yards (64–73 m) wide,[2] These soccer field dimensions are wider than the regulation American football field width of 53.3 yards (48.7 m), or the 65 yards (59 m) width of a Canadian football field.
Also a Daily article from February:
Readying the Big House for soccer — if that is where the match is held — won’t come without its share of complications. Per FIFA, international soccer’s governing body, a regulation pitch must be between 70 and 80 yards wide for international matches, but a college football field is just 53 yards across. Tournament officials could either erect an elevated platform to provide the necessary width or, because the game is essentially preseason exhibition for both clubs, accept playing with non-regulation dimensions.
EDIT:
An article from MLive with more details:
A football field is 53 yards in width, which actually is wider than FIFA (soccer’s international governing body) requires (50 yards) for club competition. International matches between national teams – such as games in the World Cup or Olympics – require a width between 70 and 80 yards, but requirements aren't as strict for club games.
Organizers didn’t have exact field dimensions available on Friday, but said it should be close to 70-meters (76 yards) wide and 100-meters (109 yards) long. Putting teams in the stands may be done to maximize available playing surface, and the only anticipated seat loss for the game.
You couldn't play a World Cup game at the Big House without going a few rows into the stands (or building a platform). For this, they are probably going to draw the field out as wide as they can while still being safe, and call it a day.
Doesn't fully answer the question, but here's a pic:
Sod installation day two at the Big House #ICC2014 #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/6c8SHDFNBD
— Michigan Soccer (@umichsoccer) July 29, 2014It shows that there aren't going to be any platforms, which was the biggest question I had (based on discussions a few years ago re a World Cup bid). Looks good; still have my fingers crossed that someone will come to their senses and realize Qatar isn't feasible, and change to a country that already has all the infrastructure in place.
This article is illuminating: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/were-the-billions-brazil-spent-on-world-cup-stadiums-worth-it/ Every World Cup since 2002 has had stadium costs (construction, etc.) in the billions, Brazil setting a new record at $3.6B (Japan and South Korea combined for more, but over 20 stadiums instead of Brazil's 12). France in 1998 had $600M in costs. By comparison, in '94 the US coughed up...wait for it...$5M. Half of that went towards putting grass down in the Silver Dome. 1/10th of 1% of Brazil's stadium costs. Even Europe can't come close to matching the cost efficiency in the US, because we have an abundance of already existing stadiums that are already paid for (for other things, no less). Oh, and they're large; Brazil's largest is the size of spartan stadium. That's actually, amazingly, the third largest used since we hosted in '94, behind Johannesburg (84k) and Saint-Denis (80k). We could easily put on a World Cup with every stadium larger than 84k, which is more revenue (and fan accessibility) against the miniscule stadium costs.
Bottom line/tldr: World Cup in the Big House would be epic
In '94 when the US hosted both the Rose Bowl and Stanford Stadium hosted games and neither of those stadiums had seat backs.
http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2014/7/15/5899255/world-cup-2022-usa-hos…
Soccer doesn't actually have universal field dimensions-- only an acceptable range of dimensions is specified in the rules.
From what I heard, the benches are going to be in the stands and it will be slightly smaller than a normal sized soccer field. This is just what I have heard though.
It will be on Fox
It sure would be nice if we could take this soccer fever and give a UM team member a boost this weekend. Goalie Adam Grinwis plays for the local PDL Michigan Bucks and the Final 4 is being hosted at Ultimate Soccer in Pontiac this weekend. Semis are Friday night with the Bucks kicking off against Jersey Express @ 7:30pm. If they win the final is Sunday afternoon at 1pm.
The quality is pretty high, and this Bucks' squad might be better than the one that went to back-to-back title games a few years ago.
Nostalgia is longing for the old pre-1991 TartanTurf. Not only was it ugly, it must have been like playing on a cheap area rug thrown on a basement slab. I always wondered why natural grass worked for so many decades prior to the late 60's, yet it couldn't take hold in the 90s.
Who makes the call to put the grass down?
There was a game at Seattle's stadium recently that involved an international team and they didn't put grass down.
A lot of soccer players hate FieldTurf. They claim it is hard on the player's body, given much more running than in football, and that the ball behaves differently. Seattle has taken a lot of heat, I think Beckham and others have sat out games there.
I bet both teams insisted on natural turf to play this game.
I'll be there Saturday and am really excited, being an increasingly ardent soccer fan/aspiring hooligan. Who else is going?
I work for the blue/red equipment guys, and am bothered to see the "green" equipment on the field...why not use BLUE New Holland equipment?
I have no idea why, but I've always preferred the natural grass field at Michigan Stadium and Notre Dame. I was actually a little upset that ND switched over this offseason.