TDECU Stadium converting to natural grass?

Cougar Football
1

Read in the American Statesman that we are going to convert to natural grass. Any truth to this?

2

They are converting the outdoor practice field to natural grass. I haven’t heard anything about TDECU.

3

That would be great news. Now to have an effective natural grass field it all depends on how the stadium was built. What will be the orientation of the field vs the natural light/uvs etc…? Unfortunately quite a few new stadiums are built without any consideration for the field future conditions. I hope this is true.

4

Palm. Trees.

2 Likes
5

Really? That’s strange. They have a grass practice field, and an artificial practice field that’s the same turf as the stadium.

Usually, coaches like to practice on the surface play on.

I get it that the new IPF will be turf, but we’re only going to practice indoors when the weather doesn’t cooperate.

I wonder if there is a concern that the current artificial practice field is “too hard” and is partly to blame for all the concussions?

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6

I would think that we would want to be able to practice on both surfaces, since we play on both surfaces.

7

But we have that now.

8

Yeah, I realized that after I typed it. :slight_smile:

I don’t think TDECU is going to convert to natural grass, especially when the turf is still pretty new.

There may be something to the concussion theory, or maybe the coaches’ feet get too hot on the turf. :wink:

9

An artificial turf field life is around 8/10 years. It also has to be groomed and taking care off regularly. The infill is the problem. I do not like the recent pictures that I have seen. What does it mean? Only the maintenance crew can answer that. I also hope that there has been some cooperation between the manufacturer and our maintenance crew. It is not maintenance free. It actually cost less to maintain a natural grass field than an artificial one. That includes labor. There is a lot of misconception that it is maintenance free.The industry is still learning from past mistakes. Grass will always be better. It is natural.

10

Two problems with that right away: you are citing a “newspaper,” which is always risky enough; but then, that “newspaper” is in Austin, which makes it even more suspect!

Maybe they accidentally got it right, but I doubt it.