BG/UT is a really good game for two teams with losing records.

And a nice crowd. what say 20K for this game????

? about BG's field.

After looking at the 'highlights' from the mud bowl, when will BG do something about their field?

Heck even Eastern has Field Turf... ;-)

emu steve Wrote:BG/UT is a really good game for two teams with losing records.

And a nice crowd. what say 20K for this game????

? about BG's field.

After looking at the 'highlights' from the mud bowl, when will BG do something about their field?

Heck even Eastern has Field Turf... ;-)

Maybe they should get a new field every other game like Ohio State ;-)

Does anyone know why OSU doesn't have Field Turf or similar.

emu steve Wrote:Does anyone know why OSU doesn't have Field Turf or similar.

I don't know why OSU does not have field turf, but expect them to have it next year. With the problems they have had with the field this year and Tressel wants field turf, so they can host the State Football Championship games. The problems with OSU's field is likely a result of when they renovated the stadium and lowered the field a couple years ago.

As far as BG, I prefer football to be played on grass and with the weather last week, any field would have been in that condition. I don't know enough about the financial situation in the BG athletic department, so I have no idea if field turf is under consideration.

98_BG_GRAD Wrote:

emu steve Wrote:Does anyone know why OSU doesn't have Field Turf or similar.

I don't know why OSU does not have field turf, but expect them to have it next year. With the problems they have had with the field this year and Tressel wants field turf, so they can host the State Football Championship games. The problems with OSU's field is likely a result of when they renovated the stadium and lowered the field a couple years ago.

As far as BG, I prefer football to be played on grass and with the weather last week, any field would have been in that condition. I don't know enough about the financial situation in the BG athletic department, so I have no idea if field turf is under consideration.

My understanding is most schools switch to field turf for financial reasons (cheaper maintenance)

The mud bowl was fun to watch though. I hope BG keeps the grass, even if it may cost them more money in the long run.

Miami switched to Field Turf for a number of reasons.....long term lower maintenance was one of them, but flexibility was the main one. Now, Miami can host HS championships and playoffs and the field is always in perfect shape regardless. Also, the field looks great and it sure didn't hurt that a former Miami player and his family donated the funds to put the Fieldturf in.

Where are the Ohio HS Football Championship games played? Surprising that Ohio St doesn't host them. Champaign is the site for the IHSA football title games. Champaign lost the State Hoops Championship games to Peoria (Bradley University) in large part to the Champaign hotel owners requiring a 2 nite minimum stay and doubling their normal prices.

High Schools and families on limited budgets overtime got sick of paying $400-$600 for 2 nites accomodations and when Peoria completed construction of their civic center (which includes a 13K seat basketball arena) the IHSA moved the Hoops Title games to Peoria. Just one of the reasons why some NIU fans have a negative view of of the U of Illinois.

onlinepole Wrote:Where are the Ohio HS Football Championship games played? .

Finals are played at Massillon High School, which has a stadium that would rate with most in the MAC.

http://www.massillonproud.com/fans/stadium.htm

They take their football seriously down there.

i believe EMU spent around 700K. That number sticks in my mind for some reason.

Zip81 Wrote:

onlinepole Wrote:Where are the Ohio HS Football Championship games played? .

Finals are played at Massillon High School, which has a stadium that would rate with most in the MAC.

http://www.massillonproud.com/fans/stadium.htm

They take their football seriously down there.

Three divisions play in Massilon and the other three play at Fawcett Stadium in Canton, better known as the home of the NFL's Hall of Fame pre-season game.

http://www.ohsaa.org/sports/ft/boys/default.asp

back in the day, OSU did host the Ohio Football Championships, but around the time that grass replaced astroturf in Ohio Stadium was the time when the championships moved to Stark County.

Massilon/Canton now have the games because of the history of high school football there AND because both stadia are within close proximity of each other. I am under the impression that last year the OHSAA looked into bids for other sites to see if there were any alternatives, but they ended up renewing the Massilon/Canton contract.

Also as I recall from conversations on ohio high school boards, Cincinnati tried a bid that would either combine UC and Miami or have all the games at Paul Brown Stadium. However, my recollections is that the Yager/Nippert sites were far enough apart that the OHSAA didn't think it was a workable solution, and that PBS was too big, esp. for the smaller schools.

emu steve Wrote:BG/UT is a really good game for two teams with losing records.

And a nice crowd. what say 20K for this game????

? about BG's field.

After looking at the 'highlights' from the mud bowl, when will BG do something about their field?

Heck even Eastern has Field Turf... ;-)

Hopefully we will never see any type of artificial turf. What I would like to see is a better tarp or a better drainage system. You must realize that we had rain for nearly two weeks straight leading up to the game. Without rain BG's field is one of the best around.

I know Toledo's is not field turf but did anyone notice all the players slipping and falling last night on both teams? I noticed the same thing in the Ball State game. At least when it rains at BG you are prepared for a possible slip (our freshman kicker excluded )

I don't know if I would call BG's field best around. But with the precipitation and wear and tear, it is understandable. I expect the Big Ten to all go to field turf soon. More than half are already there. That stuff is updated yearly.

Cost is always the issue. I believe KSU's was also donated. It helped that a donor at the same time donated money for field hockey turf to get them out of Dix Stadium.

UTs NexTurf was 900k installed five years ago. The slipping thing has been an issue since day one. WMU also installed NexTurf that year and replaced it with FieldTurf before this season. Broncos, help me out...I seem to recall the reason for the change WAS the slipping. True?

Karl Wrote:UTs NexTurf was 900k installed five years ago. The slipping thing has been an issue since day one. WMU also installed NexTurf that year and replaced it with FieldTurf before this season. Broncos, help me out...I seem to recall the reason for the change WAS the slipping. True?

I think WMU changed it because of a common injury that many WMU players seemed to be getting. Can't remember what it was called. I think the overall reason they switched to FieldTurf was for safety reasons.

epasnoopy Wrote:

Karl Wrote:UTs NexTurf was 900k installed five years ago. The slipping thing has been an issue since day one. WMU also installed NexTurf that year and replaced it with FieldTurf before this season. Broncos, help me out...I seem to recall the reason for the change WAS the slipping. True?

I think WMU changed it because of a common injury that many WMU players seemed to be getting. Can't remember what it was called. I think the overall reason they switched to FieldTurf was for safety reasons.

That's surprising. Even though we have had several injuries this year, the past few seasons with the NeXturf have seen a lot less injuries, especially the severe ones, than we saw with the astroturf stuff we had before.

That astroturf was horrible stuff. I can't imagine playing on that junk.

RedSteve Wrote:back in the day, OSU did host the Ohio Football Championships, but around the time that grass replaced astroturf in Ohio Stadium was the time when the championships moved to Stark County.

Massilon/Canton now have the games because of the history of high school football there AND because both stadia are within close proximity of each other. I am under the impression that last year the OHSAA looked into bids for other sites to see if there were any alternatives, but they ended up renewing the Massilon/Canton contract.

Also as I recall from conversations on ohio high school boards, Cincinnati tried a bid that would either combine UC and Miami or have all the games at Paul Brown Stadium. However, my recollections is that the Yager/Nippert sites were far enough apart that the OHSAA didn't think it was a workable solution, and that PBS was too big, esp. for the smaller schools.

Columbus put in a bid for the Championships last year, but it was rejected. They were gonna have like 3 games at the Shoe and 3 games at Dublin Coffman (a local HS), or maybe it was 4 at the Shoe and 2 at the HS. But I think they left it in Stark County b/c if they would've played at the Shoe because 15-20,000 in a 105,000+ stadium=a terrible atmosphere.

Quote:That astroturf was horrible stuff. I can't imagine playing on that junk.

It was horrible. Carpet burns which could easily turn into staph infections. And most fields were hard to land on. I am sitting home now, leg up, and sentenced to 6 weeks on crutches recovering from my 2nd Turf Toe rebuild. First one lasted 20 years, and this will last forever because there is no way in hell I am going through another one!

Karl Wrote:UTs NexTurf was 900k installed five years ago. The slipping thing has been an issue since day one. WMU also installed NexTurf that year and replaced it with FieldTurf before this season. Broncos, help me out...I seem to recall the reason for the change WAS the slipping. True?

OK MAC fans, I need some help here.

Monitoring this board about playing surfaces got me curious. So, I went to the Zips media guide and noticed the following artificial playing surfaces:

Akron: Astroplay
Western: NeXturf
Ohio: Field Turf
Buffalo: Sportexe Momentum
Miami: FieldTurf (one word)

BG had this thing called "natural grass."

I would assume that since each of these names are trade marked that there is a difference between each surface.

My usual way of thinking is that there's one word for all artificial fields: BAD. I've been down on the field in the Rubber Bowl and the stuff really doesn't feel that bad. Miles ahead of the old Astro Turf we used to have in there.

Does anyone know the differences and if one if better than the other?

p.s. Happy Thanksgiving to all!