After what I saw and heard last night, I've decided if Rochester doesn't have a grass field, it shouldn't be allowed into MLS. Glenn Davis reported that Jason Kreis told him that "absolutely" his knee blew out because of the Field Turf at Dragoon Stadium. He was a tad pissed about it too. Then watching Rimando go down in the same game made it all the worse. It took me back to watching Wolff go down in Naperville, which Fire GM Wilt admitted was the first significant injury which "definitely" was caused by the Field Turf. I know ACL injuries can happen anywhere, but when they're caused solely by the plastic turf, it makes me ill. The players hate it. I can understand why MLS has to use these services temporarily, but on a permanent basis, I could never support it. Maybe I'm just beating a discussion which has already been beaten to death. If so, I apologize. btw, there are tickets in Columbus which cost $50? Where do these folks sit? On the bench?
Guess what, Rochester will not get a MLS expansion team anytime soon. They don't have an owner or an investor with $$ for it. Further, the State of NY initially granted the $15 million for a state of art $50 million stadium, but now will pay 67% of the cost of the stadium with fake grass . Finally, the owners of the Rhinos don't have the money to buy a INVESCO type Hyprid grass system,and that's why they are putting the FAKE stuff.
It sucks when players injuries are due to playing on the plastic stuff but equally freakish, non-contact injuries have occured on the real stuff too. Look at Brian Ching and Sasha Victorine this year and Chris Armas last year before the World Cup. I prefer real grass fields but let's remember that these ugly injuries occur on the real grass fields of Gillette Stadium (Ching) and the HDC (Victorine) too.
That's a good point, but when the players' complain about FieldTurf (the list is growing daily), then there is definite cause for concern. FIFA okayed FieldTurf in the northern climes because of the foul weather conditions (Finland, Scotland, Canada) so there is no good reason for it in Dallas, or NJ. If Denver and Boston can maintain a good grass surface, then so can Rochester or anyone else in the country. Why take chances with players' careers? Rimando's injury is especially troubling because he's not a field player.