1) Football players tend to wear mouthguards, which keep their mouths closed, and helmets keep their mouth/face from coming into direct contact with the ground. 2) The article didn't say it was exclusively women. It just happened to focus on a women's soccer coach. Like the article suggests, it's an emerging point of interest, and there needs to be more research and studies done. I take it you have a vested interest in this industry?
They have UBU in the practice dome so I would consider them a challenger. UBU has some NFL teams under their belt as well. GreenFields will come after them with their new woven system. Hellas Construction (based in Austin, made all 3 fields used in Jerry World) would be another competitor.
It looks like AstroTurf does. RAVE REVIEWS FOR THE NEW RELIANT STADIUM TURF Posted on December 1, 2012 by Mark McClellan By John Kelly for CSNHouston.com As launches go, Reliant Stadium’s first weekend with (AstroTurf® GameDay Grass™ 3D60 Xtreme) field turf hosted six high school games over Thanksgiving weekend and earned rave reviews from the teams. Photo of the AstroTurf GameDay Grass Portable Surface at Reliant Stadium “It’s good,” said Katy coach Gary Joseph. “Every bit as good as the turf we play on. I think the kids on both sides had no complaints.” “It feels bouncy,” added Katy defensive end Matt Dimon. “I liked it.” The games this weekend at the home of the Texans were made possible because of the turf. The first 10 years Reliant Stadium has been around, high school games were few and far between because the grass field the Texans play on couldn’t withstand the stress of so many games in a short period of time. With the first weekend of action on the field turf under its belt, Reliant is set to host many more games, similar to when the Astrodome hosted games every playoff weekend regardless of whether the Oilers had a home game at that Sunday. “Many folks in the community have been waiting for this for a long time,” Reliant Stadium Assistant General Manger Juan Rodriguez said. “It’s going to give a lot of people in the community the chance to use the stadium a lot more and host a lot more games. That’s what it’s all about.” The new field also means that the stadium has the ability to host the UIL Championship weekend, which has been played at Cowboys Stadium since moving all state championships to a single site. Reliant Stadium had all the qualifications to host as well except for the field. Now that isn’t an obstacle any more. “Are we going to go after it? Absolutely,” Rodriguez said. “To host them, it’s a great building for it so why not?” Beyond the championships, though, being able to use a NFL stadium for high school playoff games adds to the atmosphere for the players, who know the game is more significant just because of the venue. “It’s just a crazy stadium and I love playing here,” Dimon said. “We were all amazed at how big it was,” La Porte linebacker Hoza Scott said about playing a playoff game there last year. “Our mindset when we played Port Arthur, it wasn’t on Port Arthur. We were all amazed by how it looked, how high it looked inside and everything.” “Obviously everyone loves the stadium,” Rodriguez said. “But being out here, they love the field, they love the excitement and having that opportunity to play here at Reliant Stadium. http://www.astroturf.com/rave-reviews-for-the-new-reliant-stadium-turf/#more-4530
I get the effect the you're going for, but that Katy football program is... Well, vaunted. Seeing as how Texas High School football is definitely big business, I don't find it all shocking that their playing surface rivals that of professional venues. That said, I'm sure the surface that the Texans go with won't be the same one they use for high school and college games. Or will it?
There are hundreds of cases where high schools are getting better fields than professional teams. Field Turf does this because they're typically giving a field away to a pro team for free. They're getting the bottom rung of Field Turf's product offerings while a high school down the street that's paying full price (at full margins) is the one that's making them money. The short answer is that it's likely the Texans field will be on par with many of the local high school fields AND THAT IS NOT A BAD THING. There's just not that much difference when it comes to the specs. It comes down to the raw materials used. Some use better ones than others.
I understand why a company would give away its product to an NFL team (branding, recognition, etc). But what I don't understand is how a professional football team, worth billions of dollars in some cases, would be OK with having a subpar or less than absolute state-of-the-art artificial field installed. Unless you're Dan Snyder or Bud Adams, that doesn't pass the sniff test.
Couple reasons. 1. Stadium managers don't know crap about turf. They're too busy and take the word of whatever salesperson is taking them to their favorite strip club or golf course the most. 2. There is a logical reason why a high school would need a better field than a professional team. Durability. A typical Texas high school is going to have football, boy's and girl's soccer, and possibly lacrosse (boy's and girl's). In other areas of the country, fields are used for football, soccer (b & g), lacrosse (b & g), field hockey, p.e., and baseball/softball (rare occasion and usually only in small schools that don't have a separate stadium). It's being practiced on and used for games daily from August until April or even later. Many schools also rent out the fields for different purposes as a source of extra cash. It's getting way more hours than a field used for a professional team is. Also, a field sold to a school is expected to last the lifetime of the warranty (8 years). A professional team is likely replacing their field no more than every 3 years. What the Texans put down for 2015 is not likely the field that the 2017 Super Bowl will be played on. It will probably be replaced before then. The most that field is going to be played on is 30 games a year. In the turf industry, they decide on a fields needs in hours per week of usage. High schools and indoor soccer centers are in the extremes (over 50 hours per week). Pro fields are more like 5 to 20 hours per week.
Aren't all Super Bowls played on "fresh" surfaces (artificial, grass, whatever). Are you telling me the Jerry-world Super Bowl turf was the same one the Cowboys use? I doubt it.
Yeah there's no way that high school teams play on better quality fields than NFL teams do. They might be equal at best.
Actually, the one in Arlington was...with the exception of the end zones. They had new end zones made with the teams that were playing. But you apparently didn't read what I wrote. I said the field that they use this season isn't likely the one that the Super Bowl will be played on. The 2014 game in the Meadowlands was put down just a week before.
There are over 50,000 members on this forum. If there is another one from the turf industry, I'm sure they'd agree with me (unless they work for Field Turf and take offense at my disdain for them). I was in the industry for 7 years, working for one of the largest manufacturers in the world as a project manager, account manager and finally as the sales manager. The only reason I'm not still in it is because I refused to move to Georgia once they shut our plant in Austin down and didn't have any offers that were worth a crap to stay in it with someone else so I moved on. I'm not trying to be a d*** about it but I do know turf.
No, I did read it... I just thought that point was sort of obvious. I wouldn't expect the Super Bowl to ever be played on a worn surface.
The Arlington surface was only in its 2nd season and is only used for NFL games. So, it was hardly used at that point. They have separate surfaces for college/high school games and a blank (no lines tufted in) for other sports. Don't believe me? Look up Hellas Construction and ask them. They made the fields for Jerry World.
This forum is awesome. There's someone around here that knows something about just about anything. I now know a hell of a lot more about turf than I did 10 minutes ago.
Yes! Please do this I loved that look. They can paint that stuff up any way they like, so it shouldn't be too hard to do this. Red end zones would be cool too.
