MEMPHIS, Tenn., April 25, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium has selected FieldTurf as its new surface, it was jointly announced today by Liberty Bowl Stadium Manager Terry Norman and FieldTurf CEO John Gilman. The turf installation is expected to begin in about a month, and the new FieldTurf is expected to be ready well in advance of the University of Memphis' nationally-televised 2005 football home opener against Ole Miss on September 5. The new FieldTurf will replace the natural grass field and artificial turf sidelines that have been used most recently at the Liberty Bowl.
FieldTurf is currently in use in more than 25 NCAA Division 1-A football stadiums including Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington, Kansas State, Boston College and Missouri.
"This is a tremendous coup for FieldTurf," said Gilman. "All football fans are very familiar with the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. It is one of the most venerable and well-known facilities in the South, which as we all know, is the hot bed of college football. There is so much history and tradition in the 40 years since the Liberty Bowl has been built, and we at FieldTurf are very proud to be involved. We are obviously very pleased that the Liberty Bowl has selected FieldTurf, which is the undisputed industry leader in synthetic turf fields. I am completely confident that the Memphis Tigers' players and coaches, along with the top college teams that will be competing in future Liberty Bowls, will love the playability and the safety of the new FieldTurf field."
"The two wettest seasons in this region happen to be during the fall and the spring and our football team generally has to practice and prepare in wet conditions," said UM Head Coach Tommy West. "Now, with the installation of FieldTurf at our stadium, even if the fields at our practice facility are wet, we will have perfect conditions in which to practice."
Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium was originally built in 1965 and has a current capacity of 62,338. Besides being the home of the Memphis Tigers, the stadium has hosted the Liberty Bowl Classic since '65. The Liberty Bowl has also been the home of past Memphis professional football teams in the WFL, USFL, CFL and XFL. In 1997, the stadium was the home of the NFL's Tennessee Oilers. The Liberty Bowl has also hosted a large number of NFL preseason games since its 1965 opening.
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-one 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.