ANNAPOLIS, Md., Jan. 23, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- For the second time in less than a year, the Naval Academy has selected FieldTurf as the new surface for one of their premier athletic facilities. FieldTurf has been chosen as the new turf for Navy's baseball stadium, Terwilliger Brothers Field At Bishop Stadium. The announcement was jointly made by Navy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk and FieldTurf CEO John Gilman. Just last March, FieldTurf was installed at Navy's football stadium, Jack Stephens Field At Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Navy will play its first game on its new FieldTurf surface on February 4 when they host Coppin State.
After thoroughly dominating the football turf marketplace at both the collegiate and professional level, FieldTurf is rapidly expanding its baseball installations. Already, Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays play their home games on FieldTurf. Other stadiums where FieldTurf is being used for baseball include the Tokyo Dome and Hiram Bithorn Stadium (in San Juan, Puerto Rico). Collegiately, FieldTurf also has baseball installations at Washington State, Washington, Louisville, Kent State and Cincinnati.
"On so many levels, FieldTurf is advantageous for us," said Head Baseball Coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "It's going to allow us to play games and/or practice a great deal more than with natural grass. The field looks pristine and we have the ability to play and practice on the field with little maintenance."
"We were very careful in our review and analysis of a number of very impressive products before we decided to select FieldTurf for both our football and baseball stadiums," said Gladchuk. "The competition in the marketplace is aggressive however, in the end, no other product could deliver the whole package like the FieldTurf team. The detail in every aspect of the product and installation made it crystal clear that these people are real pros and FieldTurf is the benchmark to which all others are compared."
"It's truly a privilege to be able to expand our association with the Naval Academy," said Gilman. "It is especially meaningful and significant for us to get this return business from them less than a year after we installed FieldTurf at their football stadium. That means they were satisfied with both our product and our service, and for someone in our business, there is nothing more rewarding. I know that Coach Kostacopoulos and his players are going to absolutely love their new field. And thanks to Chet (Gladchuk) for showing such confidence in FieldTurf."
Terwilliger Brothers Field At Bishop Stadium has been undergoing several renovations during this offseason. Now one of the finest collegiate baseball facilities in the East, the stadium is in the process of adding 1500 chair-back seats and a state-of-the-art LED matrix scoreboard to go with other amenities.
FieldTurf has already established itself as the turf of choice in the National Football League and in NCAA major college football. Twenty-two of the NFL's 32 teams currently use FieldTurf at their stadiums and/or their practice facilities. 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. 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 1800 installations in more than 40 countries. For more information on FieldTurf, please visit www.fieldturf.com or call (800) 724-2969.