GameOn Grass Being Installed in Soldier Field -- Might it Work in ND Stadium?

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

At the risk of kicking a dying (if not dead) horse, I am curious if ND ever checked out GameOn Grass as a playing surface for ND Stadium.

My curiosity on this topic was triggered when I read an article today reporting that the Chicago Bears have installed the surface in anticipation of the 2022 NFL season. For years the Bears have had one of the worst playing surfaces in the entire NFL. It has been terrible, with players losing their footing due to large divots of sod routinely coming out during the game, and with much of field looking like it is half dead. I believe the Bears installed some sort of Kentucky bluegrass/rye blend surface many years ago, and tried to make it work. Long story short: it hasn't worked at all.

The new surface the Bears are installing is a product called GameOn Grass. It is a Bermuda grass product sold by a company out of North Carolina, and is apparently a very good surface. It has been installed in a number of NFL stadiums. While Bermuda grass is generally considered a superior surface to bluegrass, apparently Bermuda grass doesn't do as well in northern climes when the weather gets cold.

Here is a video on the new surface:



If the experiment works in Soldier Field this season, no reason to think it couldn't work in South Bend. They just resurfaced ND Stadium this year with new field turf, but if GameOn Grass turns out to be a good product for the Bears, hope we take a look at it down the road.

 

[shooter1977]

I’ve never come to terms with the fake turf at ND. 4th quarter in November and everyone’s uniform is spotless - no thanks. That’s not college football.

Plus the stadium just doesn’t pop like it did with real grass.

 

[Irishjohn68]

By November it’s not grass anymore, it’s green painted dirt.

 

[BGI User 1596]

I’ve never come to terms with the fake turf at ND. 4th quarter in November and everyone’s uniform is spotless - no thanks. That’s not college football.

Plus the stadium just doesn’t pop like it did with real grass.

Growing grass is really hard!

 

[SubwaydomerDFW]

That's interesting.. How many times will they need to dig up the sod and re-lay the field? Weekly? Seems quite expensive.

Bermuda isn't going to grow in Chicago at all. Bermuda needs soil temps in the 70s before it starts trying to seed out or produce stolons.

I'm not a grass expert but I think if you installed heaters under the field to keep the ground warm enough, you could get by with a KBG field overseeded with some rye and mowed short. If you can keep the soil warm KBG will produce underground stolons to keep the turf dense if you can get 5-6 hours of UV exposure.

Pros and Cons to all set ups I guess. I just feel like relaying a bermuda /tif field every week has to cost a fortune.

 

[Judge35]

That's interesting.. How many times will they need to dig up the sod and re-lay the field? Weekly? Seems quite expensive.

Bermuda isn't going to grow in Chicago at all. Bermuda needs soil temps in the 70s before it starts trying to seed out or produce stolons.

I'm not a grass expert but I think if you installed heaters under the field to keep the ground warm enough, you could get by with a KBG field overseeded with some rye and mowed short. If you can keep the soil warm KBG will produce underground stolons to keep the turf dense if you can get 5-6 hours of UV exposure.

Pros and Cons to all set ups I guess. I just feel like relaying a bermuda /tif field every week has to cost a fortune.

Didn’t Notre Dame just spend a fortune redoing the playing surface at Notre Dame Stadium in early August?

 

[SubwaydomerDFW]

Didn’t Notre Dame just spend a fortune redoing the playing surface at Notre Dame Stadium in early August?

Yeah big money sports franchises usually go through a new artificial playing surface every 5 years. The material usually gets donated for other uses as it has plenty of useful life but might not be Tier 1 quality after so many games etc.