The turf makeover in South Bend has been completed. After decades of playing on one of college football’s most iconic grass fields, Notre Dame’s new artificial turf has been installed in Notre Dame Stadium, complete with a logo at midfield.
Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick announced during Notre Dame’s spring game in mid-April the plan to tear up the natural grass turf and replace it with a top-of-the-line artificial turf. The plan was to have the field ready by mid-August, so it would seem Notre Dame is ahead of schedule with that initial plan. As previously noted, Swarbrick had been contemplating making the move from natural to artificial grass for years but finally received support last fall as the field had been heavily criticized.@PhilHecken @UniWatch And it is complete. ND field has officially gone plastic. Their filter, not mine. pic.twitter.com/Wmtl5S4STf
— Warren Junium, III (@wcjirish) July 24, 2014
This is a blow for traditionalists of course, but most changes in college football these days are. Notre Dame not cutting the grass to slow down teams excelling in speed is now gone, perhaps now giving an added advantage to any visitor with a good reputation for speed, but now Brian Kelly and his staff can look to use the turf to their advantage as well. The cost to maintain an artificial turf should also be an advantage for the university over the long run. Notre Dame started selling off pieces of the natural turf in May, starting at $149.95.
Still, this just doesn’t seem right for some reason.