I totally defer to you. I have no clue about the surface. All I know is that materially impacted play (negatively). I can't believe US Nats are playing on that crap..
I don't think they are. I believe that they're going to overlay it with grass. A number of the pre-announcement stories wrote about having to do so at the cost of about $200,000.
Hardness of the playing surface is compared against the natural grass, which is given an index of 100. Most American football fields made by NextField/RealGrass/Omnigrass/FieldTurf and others desire to be about 130 when brand new. But when they get worn out by either use or weather, they may get as hard as 180. (The old style Astroturf was 300. Hard ceramic tiles are 1,200). One brand, Omnigrass (by Sportexe), has several more padding layers under the carpet itself and it was able to achieve playing fields as soft as 85 on the hardness scale. Considering how poor on the ball the RSL players were yesterday, if I were Dave Checketts, I'd go for the softest field possible. They'd probably have to go to the same supplier to match the brands but I assume that it still can be done.
If they are building their own SSS in two" ?" years why in world they have to spend 1.50 M for a carpet.
Pay attention. They're not playing a fricking World Cup Qualifier on FieldTurf. They've said all along they're bringing in grass for about a month before the game, meaning RSL will play a few home games on it prior to the US match.
Just the carpet and the padding shouldn't run more than a few hundred grand. The major portion of the field's cost is the deep foundation required for drainage, etc. That is already in place.
I think I agree. But the field conditions weren't that bad, even if it was astro turf, it is way better than the pitch at Arrowhead stadium. I don't think the astro turf had anything to do with the "bad" playing. Nearly all of the players on the field have been in MLS, and that means they have played at Giants Stadium were the pitch is astro turf. The reason it was "bad" was because Colorado has seemingly kept that strong defense intact, and Salt Lake was without Andy Williams, a playmaker no doubt, and that forced Mathis to go back, and Selolwane to go forward (starting to realize why the Fire let him go), i.e. weak offense.
Yeah, the way I see FieldTurf is this -- of course, it's not as good as a well-groomed grass field. But it's better than the patchy dirt we saw at the end of the season in Giants Stadium a few years ago. IIRC, the Southlake turf wasn't just an aesthetic nightmare, it was a poorly laid field that accounted for all kinds of injuries. Someone would remember the details better than I would -- unless we're all trying to erase those memories from our minds.
I think Rice-Eccles will be fine. That crowd certainly looked good on TV. Pam Anderson looks like a truck-stop hooker.
It was fine (mostly because of the crowd), but there is no way it was 72 yards wide... look at the restraining mark that is 10 yards in from the corner, if that is right on the edge of the penalty box, the field is 64 yards wide... there is no way that these marks are more than 2 yards outside the penalty box... therefore, the maximum is 68 yards... all the more reason for a SSS... Rand
The offical dimensions are 116 X 70. The West (camera side) line is only 4' 6" from the 6' 4" high wall, that is why you can't see the near side line. The Blitzz used a 120 x 70 or 68 (for player safety) with the benches in the shade and the narrow side on the East. The RES field is FieldTurf laid over the super drainage that was originaly put in for a grass in plastic field (too slippery). FIFA accepts the new 3rd generation artifical surfaces and encourages their use in cold, sunlight challenged climates and for heavy useage and covered (or mostly in the shade) stadiums. Do not equate softness with suitablity. The padding under AstroTurf causes a lot of the injuries because the foot can sink into the pad and lock into the turf yeilding turf toe and joint problems. The energy return (rebound) of the surface does affect the speed (actually the energy required to move across the surfance) a player can run. Too soft (think a matress) and running is impossible. Too hard you have Indoor Soccer which uses a lower rebound ball to compensate. The other factor is the ablity to kick though the surface (cutting a divot). AstroTurf has no such capablity thus the requiement to use pimple cleats. FieldTurf is about 1 1/2 inches deep with the loose infill allowing regular cleats to pass though the fibers just as with tall grass or sponge turf (Azteca or Rose Bowl) and cut a grove or divot.
i'll never forget the first game I ever watched a game at Dragon stadium and the goalie went 5 yards outside the 18 before releasing his punt because he couldnt tell where the lines were. what ever were they thinking?
If I'm not mistaken I believe the hash mark is 10 yards from the corner arc which is a 1 yard radius. That would make the hash mark 11 yards from the touch line so 11+11+44=66 yards. So if there was 2 yards from the hash mark to the edge of the penalty box, that would make the field 66+2+2=70 yards wide.
I thought the field look kind of crappy - Southlake without the black and purple end zones. It won't be pretty in September. I hope they get a stadium sorted out shortly - because in terms of weak places to play and watch a game on TV, it is 11th out of 12 in my book. Giants stadium being the worst.
I think that Uncle Dave deserves a little slack on this. I mean, after all, it was just 9-10 months ago that he found out he was going to get the team. To have everything put together and have it look fairly decent in that amount of time is almost a miracle. I'm sure that given a little more time, things will be much better. What did some of the fields that other teams were playing on look like less than a year after starting?
Sadly, the FieldTurf fields are a lot better than some of the grass fields have been so far this year. What's with the football lines STILL on a grass field three months after the season? And wow, the grass is in bad shape. The bounces were odd, but aside from that, I think it'll work just fine for a couple of years.