Michigan Stadium To Get New Turf for 2003 Season
10/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan director of athletics Bill Martin announced today (Tuesday, Oct. 15) that the turf in Michigan Stadium will be replaced before the start of the 2003 football season. The current Prescription Athletic Turf (PAT) was placed in Michigan Stadium in May of 1991 and was last re-sodded in the spring of 1999.
"We have had soil samples checked at different universities across the country, we have brought in turf experts and now we are going to make a change," said Martin. "I called football coach Lloyd Carr this morning and I told him we were going to have a different playing surface next year and he said, 'Great!'"
This past summer, the Michigan Athletic Department sent soil samples to Penn State. In the past, turf samples have been analyzed by Turf Management Departments at Ohio State and Michigan State. Experts have been brought in every year since the grass field was placed in Michigan Stadium, but the field has continually been a problem area for the Michigan Athletic Department.
"On August 1 of this year, the roots for the turf were six inches deep," said executive associate athletics director Mike Stevenson. "After a few weeks of a combination of heavy rain and then very hot weather, the roots were only three-quarters of an inch deep.
"It looks as if the roots were literally scalded off by the combination of the rain and then the high soil temperatures."
"It is not from any lack of effort, it is not from any lack of knowing what to do," Carr said during his weekly Monday press conference. "I don't think it has anything to do with anything that anybody is doing. I'm convinced at this point it is just not possible to have the kind of system that will allow you to play seven or eight games a year on that turf and have it be safe and present the type of footing that you would like athletes to have. We have to look at some other turf options."
"There are many new, innovative surfaces on the market today and our job will be to work with Lloyd to make sure we have the surface we feel is best for our student-athletes," added Stevenson. "Let's face it, we tried to make natural turf work, and we couldn't do it.
"Right now, our top priority for the remainder of the season is to put the field in the best possible playing condition."
Michigan Stadium Turf Timeline
1968 Nov. 16 -- Michigan crushes Wisconsin 34-9 in the last Michigan Stadium game on grass for the next 22 seasons.
1969 June -- Evidence that turf required less maintenance than grass and could withstand any type of weather led the Regents of the University of Michigan to approve artificial turf for use at Michigan Stadium. At a cost of $250,000, 88,285 square feet of Tartan Turf is installed in July.
Sept. 20 -- The Wolverines break in the newly installed Tartan Turf with a 42-14 defeat of Vanderbilt.
1975 The playing area is resurfaced with Tartan Turf.
1982 The playing area is resurfaced, this time with All-Pro Turf.
1990 Nov. 17 -- Michigan defeats Minnesota 35-18 in its last Michigan Stadium game on artificial turf. From 1969, when the turf was installed, Michigan compiled a 119-18-3 record while playing on artificial turf in Michigan Stadium.
1991 May -- Michigan Stadium returns to grass as 87,000 square feet of Prescription Athletic Turf is installed. Eight thousand square yards of sod were brought in to make up the actual playing surface. In addition, the playing surface was lowered three and a half feet to facilitate better sightlines for those seated in lower rows. The conversion from turf back to grass costs $900,000.
Sept. 14 -- Michigan plays on a grass field in Michigan Stadium for the first time since 1969 as the Wolverines defeat Notre Dame 24-14.
Contact: Bruce Madej, David Ablauf (734) 763-4423
