The country’s best turf management school will strut its stuff on the football field.
The administration unanimously agreed Friday to switch the turf on Spartan Stadium to natural grass.
“I have felt very passionately about putting natural grass into the stadium,” Trustee David Porteous said. “The grass project is a great example of the partnership between the athletic and academic side of the institution.”
Porteous pointed out during the board meeting the residual benefits.
“This is an example where the athletic side is going to raise the money and pay for this program,” he said. “Our academic side will get a direct benefit from the funding and the payments of this very important project.”
Besides cost, there are issues with real grass that are not present with artificial turf.
Trey Rogers, professor of crop and soil sciences, said the School of Turf and Management is working on the project’s specifics.
“We will pick out specific grasses and different varieties that are athletic field conducive,” he said. “We are picking out a good root zone that will be a good cushion for the players and at the same time not easy to divot.”
MSU will be the eighth school in the Big Ten to have natural grass on its football field.
“I like to think the grass will compare favorably to other schools if not superior,” Rogers said. “We are taking all the steps that are necessary to ensure a good surface (to play on).”
Rogers, part of a team working on the new turf, said the grass will begin growing this April, and planted in the stadium in August of 2002.
“There are a few reasons our grass will be different than other schools,” Rogers said. “Most important is that when this field is first played on, it will be almost two growing seasons old.
“We could probably seed this field in April, and have it ready to get through the season next year but it would not be high quality,” he said. “Our administration deserves credit thinking two years out and not one.”
MSU President M. Peter McPherson said the school is looking forward to the turf change for the 2002 football season.
Although there are no injury records citing a difference from those occurring on real grass or artificial, McPherson said football players favor the natural grass.
He said there are arguments both for and against natural grass.
“It’s a living system, and the problem with real grass is that it gets soggy and when it rains and gets torn up,” McPherson said. “The other problem is that in the region we are in during October the grass stops growing because the temperature gets cold.
“There are a number of arguments on either case,” he said. “But the players do feel there is a difference after they play.”
MSU freshman quarterback Jeff Smoker sees health reasons as benefits of natural grass.
“I believe you see less injuries, bumps, bruises and scrapes,” he said. “The players enjoy playing on it better.”
Smoker said the players pushed on the idea of natural grass, and he didn’t know any players that would have a problem with it.
“Its just easier on your body after playing on grass than turf,” he said. “Especially with as many games we play during the year, and all the hitting we take.”
