Ohio State Turns To Turf

BuckeyeSports.com

November 29, 2006

by JEFF SVOBODA
STAFF WRITER


Adam Jardy/BSB
Ohio Stadium's natural grass looked spotty before the Oct. 21 Indiana game, pictured here, and would not improve as the season went on.

Ohio State’s season opener against Youngstown State on Sept. 1, 2007, will be more than the first time the Buckeyes suit up against a Division I-AA foe – it will be the return of an artificial surface in Ohio Stadium.

The “interdepartment decision” to go to a synthetic surface was made earlier this week, according to Don Patko, Ohio State’s assistant athletic director for facilities management. The decision ends months of speculation after the natural grass field in the Horseshoe had to be replaced twice during the football season.

“It was just a matter of, there was never not talk to go back to grass,” Patko told BuckeyeSports.com. “We could only go about 15 to 20 days a year on a grass field, so that limited what we could do on it and how much our own team could even play on it. We didn’t like limiting that, so (athletic director) Gene (Smith) and the crew just said, ‘Let’s go with the synthetic and take that variable away and let them play on it as much as they want.’”

The field, which was heavily torn up by fans after the season-ending win against Michigan, will be patched for April’s Spring Game and then the grass will be removed and replaced with a synthetic surface in time for June’s spring quarter commencement ceremonies. The process is expected to cost between $400-600,000, Patko said, and will take place after the Spring Game to avoid delays caused by the winter weather...

Well, I can't say that I'm not a bit disappointed, I do like natural grass better, but hey, it'll allow for a lot more things to take place there. It would be nice to have the high school football playoffs back there and not have to travel to Massilon. I'm looking forward to seeing what the field will look like when it's done.