Turf Care 101, Soldier Field Style

 

Soldier Field, Chicago.

The grounds crew at Chicago?EUR??,,????'???s Soldier Field, a venerable pro football landmark, readied the field for the Bears televised playoff game on Jan. 22 in a slightly unorthodox manner. After a long season of pounding and the winter chill arriving, the grass was decidedly brown. The quick fix? Add a little N? No. John Nolan, Soldier Field’s head groundskeeper, had the field and sidelines sprayed with 480 gallons of green coloring, a nontoxic coloring used to color crayons.

Now if only the crew could mitigate the bone-chilling cold the players will likely face. Well, the crew can?EUR??,,????'???t do much about the ambient air temperature on the field, but there is 40 miles of heat tubing beneath the turf that maintains a ground temperature of 68 degrees. So when you see players a little slow in getting up off the turf after a play, it?EUR??,,????'???s not necessarily because of a hard hit?EUR??,,????'??+they?EUR??,,????'???re just warming up a bit.