Many have wondered what Notre Dame would do with its outdated football field and the surface the players play on. According to ESPN, the Fighting Irish will be installing artificial FieldTurf finally to the stadium for the 2014 college football season.
Installation of the new FieldTurf will begin around May 18, with the completion date set on Aug. 15, 2014. Notre Dame announced this decision on Saturday in the first quarter of the Blue vs Gold spring game.
During the 2013 season, many noticed the beating the playing surface had taken at the stadium.
"We had a strong predisposition to stay with a natural grass field," Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said in a release. "However, the reality is that in two of the last three seasons since we moved Commencement to the Stadium, we have been unable to produce an acceptable playing surface. That, combined with the likely impacts of future construction at the Stadium, led me to conclude that we would continue to struggle to maintain a grass field that meets the expectations of our student-athletes and fans as it relates to appearance, performance and safety.
"Synthetic turf will assist our game preparation because our team will be able to play and practice on the same surface. We will also be able to utilize the Notre Dame Stadium field for practices on home football Fridays and other occasions, whereas that is currently unrealistic. Additionally, this change allows us to eliminate the risk to players posed by the asphalt perimeter that has to be maintained around our current field."
Good idea by the Fighting Irish to finally get with the program.
