Super Bowl's grass turf required nearly 2-year process

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GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Nick Pappas said tending to natural grass in the middle of the Sonoran Desert requires a little art, a little science and a little intuition. It also requires a whole lot of modern machinery. The NFL’s players have made it no secret they prefer playing on natural grass as opposed to synthetic turf. They’ll get their wish in Super Bowl 57 — thanks to Pappas and his small group of field specialists who are getting the surface ready at State Farm Stadium for Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

“For this one, obviously, we’re giving it a little extra care,” said Pappas, who is one of the NFL’s field surface directors. “We’ve got a lot of groundskeepers here for about a month, putting eyes on it, putting hands on it, working on it all day, every day, getting it ready for game day.” The home field of the Arizona Cardinals is unique in that the grass is on a giant, rolling track. Every day, the entire field is rolled outside of the retractable roof stadium, where it can get unobstructed access to Arizona’s abundant sunshine. Then it can be rolled back inside for the chilly winter nights.

It’s quite a process: The stadium’s website says the grass is on a “single 40-inch deep tray measuring 234 feet wide and 403 feet long. Rolling on 546 steel wheels which rest on 13 railroad-like tracks, the field travels the 740 feet inside or out of the stadium in approximately 70 minutes at the push of a button.” Only one of the NFL’s other venues has a similar setup — Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas which is the site of Super Bowl 58 next year.

The Super Bowl’s field looked immaculate on Tuesday morning, with thick, lush grass, the NFL logo painted in the center and team logos in each of the end zones. This particular batch of turf — which has a Bermuda grass base that includes rye grass overseed — started growing at a local sod farm in May 2021. “It’s a long process to get it as heavy, thick and dense as we’ve been talking about,” Pappas said. “We’ve got to make sure it takes its time, cures and gets ready.”

https://apnews.com/article/kansas-city-chiefs-green-bay-packers-philadelphia-eagles-arizona-cardinals-nfl-dd84adbfb118eda16d17e124b8a43940

[Mosby]

1. The weather's going to be great tomorrow.

High of 78.

[JT45242]

2. The second Bengals 49ers super bowl was changed by bad turf...

There was rain the day before. They turned on the drains and left them on too long and destroyed the grass. No time to resod, so they painted the dead grass green.

Bengals trainers said it was a major contributing factor to the nasty leg break that NT Tim Krumrie, probably the best defensive player on the Bengals (it was either him or David Fulcher who unfortunately dropped a would be interception at the beginning of the 4th qtr). Without Krumrie and his relentless effort, Montana was able to step forward in the pocket as the back up NT got easily handled whenever the ends had a good rush.. multiple times on the game winning drive in the final minutes.

Of course. Part of me wonders how much water it takes to keep a grass field in a desert that might be used for better things...but that's really a different post.

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4. It must cost a fortune to feed and coddle...

and I can't imagine what kind of damage the half-time show does.

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3. Send 'em here!

My yard looks horrible!

I need these people around here to fix the lawn up!

Sure ...

& recommend.

[Rebl2]

5. Same here

A very small section by our driveway is thyme. Apparently dropped there accidentally one time by my husband or me or maybe an animal. It just kind of took over a small area, but hasn’t spread to much. In the summer if I rub my hand over it, it smells wonderful 😊!!!

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6. Dandelions galore

I have more of them than anyone would ever care to have.

You cannot get rid of them!