Reliant turf here to stay?

[aj.]

There was talk at one time about abandoning the natural grass pallet system at Reliant in favor of the rubberized Field Turf or a variant, but this makes it sound like the grass may be here for the long run:

Harris County Sports and Convention Corp. gets go ahead to create $2.6 million turf farm.

The field looked a lot better in '03 than it did in '02 so I guess the extra pallets they bought prior to last season really helped out.

[JustBonee]

I really thought they might go to field turf this season .. guess not. They probably will have to swap out the trays more often to keep the green... must feel they have a better system to go to.

That's an interesting writeup.... but this caught my eye..
"Commissioners Court also authorized the sports corporation to spend $1 million to repair the east wall of Reliant Arena. Parts of the wall have begun to tilt, Loston said."


Is the Arena the same age as the Astrodome?
While at "Houston's Greatest" during SB week - sure noticed the contrast between it and the new Reliant Center and wondered why they didn't hold that program at the Center instead.

[Playmaker]

Anybody ever felt or had personal experience with Fieldturf? I've been told and read that it feels almost like the real thing and gives like grass. If that stuff is almost like the real thing then I can see good reasons to switch to it, like low maintenance costs and such.

Call me a purist though but IMHO football was meant to be played on grass. I love it when the elements come into play and affects the decision making of the coaches and players.

Oh, on the part of finding a nearby place to have the turf farm, seems like another reason for the Dome to go, maybe?

[geofb]

Even though the field takes a beating and looks pretty bad sometimes, I hope they are able to stick with a natural grass field and make it work somehow.

[Joe Texan]

Grass is the word. THat is great news. With grass it might, I say might get muddy when it rains, if they do not shut the roof. Some of my fondest memories of football were a mudfest. I love it when you take two steps and slide a mile.

[El Tejano]

Most of the games we play this year are on grass. Keep the grass to help us in that area.

[aj.]

Is the Arena the same age as the Astrodome?

Yes. I was also surprised when they had the legends thing there. They could/should have had it at the Verizon Wirelss theater or one of the halls in the Wortham. Last year when my daughter went to regional science fair, the exhibit hall off the main arena literally smelled like urine. Lord knows how much cow pee has been spilled in that place over the years and years of rodeo/stock show stuff. It's one nasty place and I think the only reason it survived the wrecking ball during the renovations was because of the rodeo.

[Vinny]

I very much hope we can make the grass work long term. I'm not too worried about how it looks after many games played deep into a season as long as we can keep it healthy and the grass is rooted well. For a game with this much contact I think that Mother Earth provides the best combination of support and give (when well cleated) at the right times.

Didn't they say that even though the grass looked a little brown that it still had good rooting and was just a coloration problem? I love the grass, but with the way technology is it may be more cost beneficial to go the artificial route.

[BradK10]

I'm willing to say that our desire to keep grass is because as Texans we're proud people and willing to prove to people we can make things work. I mean, we tried to grow grass in doors at the Dome, and it didn't work. I think the powers that be want to make this work so they don't get the "I told you so"'s.

[aj.]

In '02 it was painted dirt by the end of the season, especially in the south end where it gets less sun. In '03 they bought more pallets and were able to swap out more dead or dying pallets than they were the year before, considerably improving the quality of footing and the appearance. They keep 2/3 of a field outside in the parking lot along Fannin during the season to use as spare pallets for the stuff that gets worn out and are able to swap out pallets more frequently than they used to. The north end gets a lot of sun and doesn't need as much care as the south. But it could also be due to the fact that they score all those TDs in the south endzone and hardly ever visit the north endzone.

Originally Posted by Playmaker

Anybody ever felt or had personal experience with Fieldturf? I've been told and read that it feels almost like the real thing and gives like grass. If that stuff is almost like the real thing then I can see good reasons to switch to it, like low maintenance costs and such.

I play indoor soccer on field turf, and it feels just like normal grass under you, but if you fall on it it feels basically like astro turf, and ground up tires are used to cushion the "grass", at least thats what they use where play and at ford field, the Lion's stadium, and your shoes get filled up with the tires and makes running/walking pretty uncomfortable.

[Mischief]

Originally Posted by __V__

I very much hope we can make the grass work long term. I'm not too worried about how it looks after many games played deep into a season as long as we can keep it healthy and the grass is rooted well. For a game with this much contact I think that Mother Earth provides the best combination of support and give (when well cleated) at the right times.

yeah I agree! I sure wish I had that blessed grass here in AZ :hehe: Only grass I'll get to see is when I watch the Texans on TV. Unless they have grass in Monterey, CA but from what I heard, they don't really have it there either...

[mamoo]

Here's the deal on the grass. When the Texans and county made their agreement, they made it for a grass pallatized field that would be changed out game to game. The county found out how expensive it was to do that the first year and didn't. Last year they made a better effort, but still did not fully maintain the grass. After the first season, the county wanted to change to the pallatized field turf. The Texans aren't wild about being the first team to use a pallatized field turf system. They won't be guinea pigs. From what I've been told about the contract, the Texans have the final say on what the field will be. The Texans want grass.

[aj.]

Here's an update. Sounds like the County has the funding to build the turf farm but they aren't sure if they will need it or not, so it's "on hold."

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printsto...olitan/2681950

[infantrycak]

Kind of funny to watch political wrangling on the necessity of spending the salary of one back up NFL player in order to have good turf at Reliant. On the other hand, frankly I don't mind football played in less than ideal conditions--except old school Payne debilitating turf.

[JustBonee]

The new stadium being built for the Cardinals in Glendale, Az., is going to one up Reliant .. with retractable roof and retractable natural-grass field.
Why didn't we think of that.

[infantrycak]

Originally Posted by SassyTexan

The new stadium being built for the Cardinals in Glendale, Az., is going to one up Reliant .. with retractable roof and retractable natural-grass field.
Why didn't we think of that.

It's called land values. An acre outside of reliant is worth about a mil plus and an acre outside of the AZ stadium is worth about $200. Plus, it always helps to be last in the who can hit softest contest.

[swisher]

retractable roof, retractable field....but if nobody is there to see them....

[JustBonee]

Yeah... notice that design takes away about 10,000 seats. I think they are going to have around 63,000 capacity seating.