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I have heard that SMU is studying replacing the natural turf in Ford Stadium with artificial turf. Does anyone have any information on this?

Mu understanding is that getting an artifical field is a real possibility. The field was in terrible shape for the College Cup (Soccer) and as a result we will be forfeiting future Cups. Add to that the Home Football Games and the High Schools games as well, and they need a better option. However, the real issue was the poor Groundkeeping.

i remember reading & hearing so many 'valid' reasons why we didn't go with an artificial surface when they built the stadium in the first place - one of those being the rest of the country was also dropping their artificial turf surfaces for all the same reasons like safety & costs too as we did ... & then you see other stadiums with natural turf but their surfaces are much better than ours in november & december - what gives??? you hear that players prefer natural & are we now going to hurt our recruiting efforts?

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[This message has been edited by Navy&Crimson (edited 03-11-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Navy&Crimson (edited 03-11-2003).]

There's a new type of artificial turf that is more like 'real grass'. I believe that is what will be installed at Ford Stadium. Anyone else got better info on this?

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"Winning ain't everything...but it's a lot more fun than the alternative!" S.M.U. SPIRIT: IT STARTS NOW!

first of all we cancelled the college cup not the NCAA - Phil wants us to schedule more high school games as a recruiting tool
second the field was in bad shape because of all the back to back high school games not because of poor groundkeeping practices

The field still looks terrible. Will they have time to re-do the field before the spring game?

Natural turf gives a home team an advantage. The field can be manipulated to benefit the home team.

In 1978, SMU played Penn State at Penn State. SMU had better overall team speed. The grass was about 8 inches high. Completely covered the players’ shoes. The result was to slow down the SMU team.

I would hate to lose any advantage we could gain but I understand that there are other considerations and it will be a weighted decision.

The most popular artifical surface of late is Field Turf because of its similarities to natural grass. I don't know if this in active consideration. Here is link. Note: Div. 1 schools with it.

<A HREF="http://www.fieldturf.com/" TARGET=_blank>http://www.fieldturf.com/</A>

Also, if we go artifical, NCAA Soccer is against this surface, so we won't be able to Host College Cup again.

Take a look at the website. Even some soccer stadiums have put this turf down specifically for soccer. 1/2 a million dollars? Who will pay?

it also said that the NFLPA overwhelming voted Field Turf its favorite playing surface so this turf would not be a disadvantage.

ponyte, did you play in that game with Penn State in 1978? I'm starting to get an idea of who you might be, and I think we went to the same high school, a few years apart.

if the money can be raised, the plan is to start on Monday, April 14 (2 days after the spring game)so the field can be ready for summer camps. the department narrowed the choices down to 2 types (field turf was one but i can't remember the other). Phil and David Miller (head of athletic facilities) visted several schools to determined which product to use

PX, I was at Penn State. I traveled but didn't play. It should be very easy to ID me now.

As to turf, I curse it everyday I get up with my arthritic knees. It provides no advantage for one team over the other unless one team has significantly better team speed.

We are not a significantly faster team than our opponents at this time. Turf also has to be replaced (and turf, a petroleum based product) will not get cheaper to replace over the years. It will cost much more.

OK, here's my thought process: I'm guessing that "te" stands for Tight End, and you were a freshman in 1978. and that combined with your current residence (Little Rock) and your comments about north Louisiana in a different thread have lead me to believe you are a former Mustang who once played at Jesuit High in Shreveport, and whose father played center for SMU in the 50's. If I have the right person, I also went to Jesuit (when they changed their name to Loyola), played here in the early 80's, and my father was a classmate of your dads. So, you should know me, if you didnt already. I'm sort of beating around the bush here because I dont know if you want me to put your real name on the board. I've done it a few times and most people know this is me, but some people dont always want to do that.

Good to have you on the board, hope everything is going well for you and your family. If I've guessed wrong and you arent who I thought, then I apologize.

this is a new generation turf which supposedly is like grass -- I believe the NFLPA has endorsed it - most of the major schools have or arein the process of switching over -- in fact it is laid over grass or sand not the old cement under surface