WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Jan. 25, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Purdue University has selected FieldTurf for installation at The Mollenkopf Athletic Center. The announcement was made jointly by Purdue Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Morgan Burke and FieldTurf CEO John Gilman. The installation is scheduled to be completed well in advance of the August start of fall football practice. The Boilermakers' football team frequently practices on Mollenkopf's indoor field, as does Purdue's baseball, softball, soccer and golf teams, plus the school's cheer squad.
"I know our players are excited about having FieldTurf inside the Mollenkopf Center," said Purdue Head Football Coach Joe Tiller. "As a coaching staff, we feel we will have a safe and reliable practice field that we anticipate using more often in the future."
"We're very excited to enter into this association with Purdue," said Gilman. "We have had ongoing discussions with Morgan (Burke) and Coach Tiller for a while, and we are so pleased that our efforts have culminated with FieldTurf's upcoming Mollenkopf installation. Boilermaker teams from several different sports will benefit from this project, and I am confident that all of the coaches and players involved will be very pleased."
Purdue becomes the fifth Big Ten school to install FieldTurf on either its stadium field (Michigan, Wisconsin) or its practice field (Penn State, Ohio State). More than 25 major NCAA universities now have FieldTurf in their stadiums, while 22 NFL clubs use FieldTurf.
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, Oregon, Washington, Kansas State, Boston College, Louisville 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.