Seriously, so "screw what the fans want if they don't like it the games can just be played in an empty stadium"? The promise of no football lines on the field is one of the things that convinced me to buy tickets. I'd love for the games to be played on grass but it really isn't possible in the current situation. The best option is to keep up with the technology, get the best turf we can in the stadium, and replace it as often as necessary. Maybe in 20 years we can get our own stadium with grass and a retractable roof.
Regardless, I pray we never get a roofed stadium. Ever. (I'm all for covering the seats, as most venues in England.) Rain and weather are part of football. Sports are getting too flipping antiseptic.
Edward: Does TFC share a stadium with the Argos? Uh...no. Also, is the CFL anywhere near the financial juggernaut that the NFL is. Not so much. The two situations have zero bearing on each other. This question is stupid, as it has always been. Until MLS requires grass, there will be no grass. MLS hasn't the pull for shit right now. There will be no grass. Please, I beg you, shut the ******** up about it.
Knuckles, I'm poking fun at you, but I like you. Could this be our future groundskeeper? I vote for grass. A good groundskeeping crew can make it work.
My point is, crew don't mean shit. Until MLS says "YOU MUST HAVE GRASS", it simply won't happen. I'd like the hybrid of grass/fieldturf, but until it is mandated, it won't happen. And I like you as well, Paul. Perhaps I'm just a wee bit more willing to embrace my crotchetiness.
There aren't any logistical obstacles to grass that cannot be overcome. Weather and wear can be countered by a good maintenance crew who are dedicated to the job. I also believe the economic obstacles are not that big of a deal considering that both the Seahawks and Sounders make a lot of money, and both leagues have salary caps. So I think we should continue to demand it. And it doesn't matter if we convince the FO directly or do it through the league. Some of us suffered through Memorial Stadium (and Renton Stadium), and the field turf at Qwest Field is much better. But I still lust after a grass field. That is what we were led to believe we'd have way back in '97. We've never had that, and I feel we are missing out. The fans can't be ignored forever if we keep beating the drum. I know there is an abundance of meth in Yakima, but it comes in suppository form now?
Actually, there's one big one: the Seahawks. They will destroy the grass and we'll end up with a field that looks like Houston. It's a bad idea.
So do some research and see if a surface like desso grassmaster will work. Purchase a desso grassmaster field, place it at starfire and host lots of games on it and see how it works. Invite the Seahawks or the Huskies football team to come out and run some practices on it. Put it through the ringer, see how it holds up.
Exactly. Also according to the guys over in the Rapids forum the field at Invesco held up exceptionally well, they have said that the place where wear was most visible was oddly enough where the NFL sidelines were, not the middle of the field. Maybe this could be countered by having a higher concentration of synthetic fibers in that section of field. I was thinking an ideal place to partner with would be something like Renton stadium which hosts football and soccer for the Renton school district (3 schools)
Doing tests at Starfire isn't going to tell you anything, unfortunately. The problem with having grass at Qwest Field has nothing to do with the Sounders, or even a majority of the MLS season. The problem with grass has everything to do with the Seahawks and a majority of the NFL season. Doing tests at Starfire isn't going to tell you if the natural/synthetic blend is going to hold up to the wear and tear of a football season. It isn't going to tell you if the blend will hold up in the reduced sunlight exposure caused by the design of Qwest Field. Also, having the Desso Grassmaster hold up in Invesco isn't going to tell you it will work in Seattle. The same product was used in Heinz Field from 2003 through 2009 and Heinz Field was regularly rated as one of the, if not the, worst field in NFL. So, while it was good in Invesco, it apparently sucked donkey balls in Heinz. The point I'm making is that every stadium and geographical region is different. A product working well in one stadium does not mean that same product will work well in Qwest.
The Seahawks are an issue with grass, but I thought the bigger issue was the concerts and motorcross events they host at Qwest. Lofa can do some damage do turf, but not as much as 100 tons of dirt mounded on top for a week would do. So, add the cost of losing major concerts and alternative sporting events to the cost of grass.
The Fire roll out a cover for the grass field at Toyota Park for concerts and the Galaxy just tear up the grass before the X-Games and put down new grass after at HDC, so on their own those kinds of events shouldn't prevent grass at Qwest.
I doubt the synthetic blend can be so easily removed and replaced, I could be wrong though. And I think the idea is to test the synthetic somewhere locally before trying to convince the Hawks of its virtue. Of course it is all hypothetical at the moment.
I find it interesting thatthey won't even allow high school playoffs to be played on natural grass fields in this state. http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/kitsap/poi/sports/67393212.html Now obviously professional sports can throw a heck of a lot more money at making a grass field work. They can put new sod patches in every week for players to catch their cleats on and causing the field to look like a poorly made quilt. They can fill the mud holes with sand and create an even bigger mess. They can do any number of things, but they can't change the fact that the field will turn to crap each and every NFL season. There is a reason why Husky Stadium was the first major outdoor venue to move from grass to artificial turf in 1968 and why when Qwest was built that even though natural grass was an option they too went with artificial turf. Grass fields are a major hassle and expense here, especially when american football is played on the field. It might be worth giving grass a shot if and when the Sounders build their own stadium but as long as they are sharing with the Seahawks and the various other events at a multi-use stadium it just doesn't make sense. If they ever do make the switch I hope I am proved wrong but I am not holding my breath.
The number of games on grass fields with football lines seem to disagree with your assessment. While most of the time the lines are faded, they aren't completely gone like they've been at Qwest Field.
Only 24 hours after a football game at PHP in 2006: Look, taking lines off a field isn't exactly comparable with splitting the atom. It costs time and money, yes, but the fact that it isn't done at one place or another has nothing to do with the surface, but with the will of the proprietors to actually do it. Until this year, you would've sworn that football lines were ridiculously hard to take off of plastic fields without days and weeks of effort, simply because it hadn't been done at Gillette Stadium and Giants Stadium. HSG puts in the effort to do the markings right, UH doesn't. It has nothing to do with the surface.
Hey now, Freddie Ljungberg's favorite MLS pitch was Community America Ballpark, and there's no sport in America that takes care of their grass better than MLB... If it wasn't for the fact that the seating sucks for soccer in a ballpark, I'd be serious.