Is Peden getting new turf?

Does anyone know what number surface is currently down in Peden since it was first installed?

As far as I know, this is the second synthetic turf installed at Peden.

As I have posted, one of the things my company does, is design synthetic
turf fields.

For anyone interested:

The original synthetic turf at Peden was Field Turf.

In 2013, that turf was replaced with "AstroTurf".

In 2016, "AstroTurf LLC" lost a Patent Infringement lawsuit to Field Turf.

After losing the suit, the company went Chapter 11.

It was sold to a German Company (Sport Group Holding).

That group has the "AstroTurf" trademark.
They market their product as "AstroTurf" .

I don't know what changes they made to the product to address the Patent Infringement issues.

Most of the great soccer pitches in Europe have a combo of synthetic and natural grass (Desso Grassmaster). I've wondered why this isn't done in the US.

Here is an excerpt from Liverpool's website. Chelsea and Barcelona use the same thing.

"Tell us about the hybrid pitch at Anfield…

We are 97 per cent natural grass and three per cent fibre. That makes a huge difference. Football is a winter sport so we’re dealing with the worst of the weather and being in the UK, predominantly the worst of the weather is going to be rain. So to make sure the pitch is drained freely, you build your pitch out of sand. Sand is not stable so to give stability you rely on grass roots and when they fail, you need the fibre that’s stitched in there. There’s a machine that basically stitches these fibres in; they go down 20cm deep into the pitch and they’re 2cm apart. An interesting fact is that if you were to take all of the fibres out of the pitch and stretch them end-to-end, they would wrap around the circumference of the planet."

This quote from the old A-news article is hilarious:

---Yet, arguing the financial merits of turf versus grass misses the main point -- why is OU spending another dime on any sort of Peden surface, particularly when the current field worked fine last year? The university is cutting its departmental budgets and sharply hiking tuition for students, and yet it's pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into making sure the football field has a pristine surface---

1. Same old A news.
2. Current field worked fine? Anyone who watched a game in 2001 should remember that the new grass playing surface was completely coming apart by midseason (insert metaphor for 2001 football team).

Not to bore everyone to death, but:

Synthetic Turf fields DO save money.
In addition to what you point out, irrigation is another significant cost.

When Field Turf first came out, I was asked to do a cost/benefit analysis on a
synthetic v natural turf field.

Turned out, using the most conservative numbers for natural turf installation and maintenance and shortest lifespan for synthetic turf, the "break even" point for synthetic turf was about 5 years.

The other benefits of synthetic turf include:

1.It can be used 365 days a year.

2.You can use it immediately after it rains.

3.When the turf eventually wears out, only the "mat" and infill have to be replaced.

4.Any damage, especially from "non-authorized" cleats, can be repaired, and
the field put back in service immediately.

There have been some very memorable failures in the knockoff world. Philadelphia Eagles and Toledo Rockets come to mind.

Any specific information on the additional project that was presented concerning Peden?

It was mentioned at the caravan in Lancaster last night that they began to tear up the old turf yesterday and should have the new turf installed by mid July.

Pretty sure all the green turf goes down first, then they cut out the colored areas, and glue/seam the colored pieces into place. It's all held together with gluey tape much like how 2 pieces of carpet are connected. This includes all the hash marks and everything.

The turf is plastic.
You install it, including markings and logos.
Then you install "infill".
The base is sand.
Then, in most cases, a mix of rubber pellets and sand.
Then a top layer of rubber pellets only.
(That's the "black" dust you sometimes see "fly up".)

If you want to spend a lot more money, you can use "organic" material, like ground coconut husks, in stead of rubber.

I've never done one of those, so I don't know how the "top" layer works.

Line markings and things like that are actually manufactured as part of the green turf.

Logo's, at least on the field's I've done, are prefabricated.
You "shave" the green turf and the sew and glue the logo's.

The synthetic turf, even in the end zones in permanently installed.

The only place I know with "removable" end zones is Met Life.

From talking to people I work with at Field Turf, trying to come up
with a practical method to do this wasn't easy.

Originally, in Giants Stadium, the end zone turf was green.

They had to paint each team's logo with "temporary" paint.

You based the dilution ratio on how long you wanted the markings to last.
(We still do that for things like soccer markings on some fields)

But you still had to do some "scrubbing" to get them off.

They have 3 (Giants, Jets, "blank").

They large are large sections, lifted out "pallet be pallet", then the other
end zone turf pallets are installed.

It takes hours and has to be inspected to make sure everything "fits".

With new turf, its not the end of the world.

If they have to, they can remove the turf from all or part of the end zone and replace it.

As long as its new, there are no issues with matching the color.