CORVALLIS, Ore., April 1, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Yet another major NCAA Division 1-A university has selected FieldTurf for installation at its football stadium. Oregon State has chosen FieldTurf for Reser Stadium, the home of the Beavers. The announcement was jointly made today by OSU Director of Athletics Bob De Carolis and FieldTurf CEO John Gilman. The installation will begin later this month, forcing the relocation of Oregon State's annual spring game. The new FieldTurf surface will have its official football debut when the Beavers host Portland State in the 2005 season opener on September 3.
This will actually be Oregon State's second FieldTurf football field. FieldTurf installed a full-length field at OSU's Merritt-Truax Indoor Center in 2001.
The field and the installation costs are being donated by OSU alumni and current FieldTurf associates Jim Mendenhall, Steve Coury and Mark Ryan. The Department of Athletics will pay all costs for the field logos and preparation work to the underlying surface. The FieldTurf installers will remove the current AstroTurf 2000, which has been in place since July of 1999.
FieldTurf is currently in use in more than 25 NCAA Division 1-A football stadiums including Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington, Washington State, Kansas State, Boston College and Missouri.
"The new surface will be on a par with our counterparts in this conference (PAC 10) and across the nation," said De Carolis. "This is another step in the continuing improvements of Reser Stadium and our athletic facilities."
"We are very pleased that Oregon State has elected to install FieldTurf at Reser Stadium," said Gilman. "The PAC 10 is one of the best football conferences in America, and it's great for us to be associated with another top football program like Oregon State. Reser marks FieldTurf's fourth PAC 10 stadium. Maybe one day in the not-too-distant future, the entire conference will be playing their games on FieldTurf! I am confident that the OSU players, coaches and fans will really enjoy the new FieldTurf surface."
"This is a big deal for the program," said Beavers Head Coach Mike Riley. "It helps us in terms of injury prevention and recruiting, and is an overall much better surface to compete on. I'm very excited about the new surface and I thank the donors who made this happen."
Reser Stadium opened in 1953 and has a current capacity of 35,362. It was originally called Parker Stadium, but was renamed in 1999 in honor of Al and Pat Reser.
The Beavers finished with a 7-5 record in 2004, including a victory over Notre Dame in the Insight Bowl.
In addition to its growing popularity in the college ranks, FieldTurf has already established itself as the turf of choice in the National Football League. Twenty of the NFL's 32 teams currently use FieldTurf at their stadiums and/or their practice facilities. Also, three Major League Baseball teams will use FieldTurf at their stadiums in 2005. FieldTurf was also the first artificial turf product approved by FIFA (soccer's world governing body) for World Cup play.
The NFL Players Association recently conducted a survey of all NFL players who were asked to rank the league's 32 stadium fields on a variety of factors, such as playability, safety, etc. The NFL players ranked FieldTurf fifth out of 32, and amazingly, NFL players rated FieldTurf ahead of 15 of the league's 19 natural grass fields.
FieldTurf is the result of years of research - evident in the patented FieldTurf infill mix of silica sand and cryogenic rubber and patented layering process that deliver a system that emulates natural grass. Additional benefits are found in improved player safety, reduced maintenance costs and flexibility for conversion - allowing stadium managers to quickly change the field from one sport to another or to easily host a variety of sporting events, concerts and other special events directly on top of the FieldTurf surface.
Over the past few years, the quality and performance of FieldTurf's patented system has resulted in over 1300 installations in more than 40 countries. For more information on FieldTurf, please visit www.fieldturf.com or call (800) 724-2969.