EVANSTON, Ill., May 25, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northwestern University has selected FieldTurf as the new artificial turf surface for one of its primary football practice fields at the school's athletic complex. The joint announcement was made today by Northwestern Athletics Director Mark Murphy and FieldTurf CEO John Gilman. The selection of FieldTurf by the Wildcats marks the latest on the lengthy list of major college and NFL installations for FieldTurf, the undisputed leader in the artificial turf industry.
Northwestern becomes the sixth Big Ten school to install FieldTurf on either its stadium field (Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota) or its practice field (Penn State, Ohio State). More than 30 major NCAA universities now have FieldTurf in their stadiums.
"We are really excited to be working with FieldTurf on this project," said Murphy. "They have really been at the forefront of the rubber infill market, and have the best product on the market. This new field will be a tremendous benefit to our football program, as well as to many of our other teams. Given our relative lack of field space and northern weather, having a FieldTurf practice field will solve a big problem for us."
"We are very excited about our new FieldTurf practice field," said NU Head Football Coach Randy Walker. "We play on this surface often and our players really like the product. It will expand our outdoor workout potential to 12 months a year and be much easier on the body than other all-weather products."
"Everyone at FieldTurf is delighted with our new association with Northwestern," said Gilman. "I'm confident that the NU players and coaches will love FieldTurf. Northwestern is the sixth Big Ten member that will have FieldTurf, and we are very proud of that fact. I know that many members of the Wildcats' football program have experience on FieldTurf at those other Big Ten institutions, and the fact that Mark Murphy and Coach Walker feel it is the right product for NU is very gratifying."
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-two of the NFL's 32 teams currently use FieldTurf at their stadiums and/or their practice facilities. Also, three Major League Baseball teams are using 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.