If you get a chance go watch the video at ussoccer.com about the field having the only retractable field(yes field) and roof. It's a cool look at the field being brought out at the end of the video. It is grass, correct? That makes it even more impressive.
Its not actually the University of Phoenix. The University of Phoenix is an alternative online degree school that is actually a for-profit company, they are not a true University... and they certainly don't have any athletic programs. The Stadium is used primarily by the Arizona Cardinals pro football team, and also an annual college bowl game... University of Phoenix is just the name of the company that bought the bragging rights (like Reliant Stadium or Qwest Field. That said, U of P Stadium is absolutely GORGEOUS... probably the crowd jewel of American Stadium architecture at this point in time... The stadiums isn't the first retractable roof stadium by a long shot, a number of pro baseball and a couple NFL stadiums have movable roofs. It isn't the first retractable field stadium, although it is the first in North America.... There are two other stadiums currently that have removable fields (and yes, it is grass, that is why it is removable, so it can get a grass), one is in Japan, the other is in Germany and was a world cup stadium. Between Reliant Stadium, Qwest Field, University of Phoenix Stadium, and maybe Soldier Field, the United States has some of the absolute best stadiums in the world to play in...
I noticed many americans slipping on the turf last night, especially Bornstein. Did they choose the wrong studs or was the pitch a problem?
I believe Houston has a removable grass field, but it may be in the tray system similar to the one that they used to use in Giants Stadium.
If I'm remembering right it was a Boise State football player (they played the Fiesta Bowl in the same stadium back in January) said that the field may LOOK good, but it's actually extremely hard and in pretty bad condition.
The field condition for both the Fiesta Bowl and BCS National Championship was pretty bad because before the Fiesta Bowl, the AZ State High School football championship games were play there and totally butchered the field, then they put down new turf for the College title game and the field wasn't set well for that game. Before the soccer match, they watered it which is what probably caused all that slipping, and of course the nails didn't help. The game had a World Cup match feel for me to be honest. If University of Phoenix Stadium would have the seating set up in the "Red Zone" (the area where the field exits the stadium) I definitely can see the stadium hosting a World Cup match if the US were to host again.
Sapporo and Gelsenkirchen have removable fields. I'm not sure what was up with Bornstein. Was it the field or did he just have trouble staying on his feet. Another issue was when Albright (I think) ran off the field chasing a ball, and right up against the field where the photographers were he hit what looked like a metal sheet on the ground and took a spill. That can't be wise design.
I was there at the game, and about 20mins, before the game started Bob Bradley came out to the field to check it out, he walked on it, inspected it, rubbed the sole of his shoe back and forth on it, said something to the grounds-keepers that were walking the field with him, then went back down the tunnel. A few minutes later a bunch of grounds-keepers came out with firemen water hoses (huge suckers) and saturated the whole field, Mexican fans started yelling insults at them, they shouted that this was a tactic by our coach to get their players to slip, they called us cheaters, and some other vulgarities...whatever, but yeah, everyone was slipping... (if you were watching the game on your tv. you couldn't see the other players slipping who were out of the shot)... I guess before the players were getting stuck in the grass? Who was that who went slip-sliding onto the cement? Was it Albright? I was sitting on that same side so I couldn't really see who it was, because everyone stood up. Anyway from the big-screen in the stadium he looked like he got the worst of it, looked like he came down hard on his elbows...I'm pretty sure it was Albright...I remember there being all this hair....
Yeah, that's what I was refering to. Like I said, it looked like he slipped on a metal sheet where the photographers were set up. Interesting to read about the hosing down and other players slipping, and good to know it wasn't just Bornstein. I wonder what length cleats they were wearing.
Usually with this,you see both teams slipping,but I only saw Americans slipping.Make be think it was a footwear issue.
They set up seats in that area for the BCS national title game... its an interesting feature, they don't set up seats to keep capacity down for NFL games (so they sell out and can be on TV)... but they can add something like 5-8,000 seats whenever they want too...
They had seats there opening day for the Cardinals-49ers (I had front row tickets on the 50yard line that game).