CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 19, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Harvard Stadium, the nation's oldest and one of the most historic football venues, has installed FieldTurf for the 2006 football season. The Crimson's new state-of-the-art FieldTurf debuted this past Saturday when Harvard played host to Holy Cross in the '06 season opener.
FieldTurf has overwhelmingly become the turf of choice for The Ivy League, having previously installed surfaces at Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth and Princeton.
Built in 1903, Harvard Stadium has been used for over 600 Crimson football games. It was the world's first massive reinforced concrete structure and was also the first large permanent arena/stadium for American collegiate athletics. Harvard Stadium was also formerly the home of the New England Patriots.
"We're excited to get back into Harvard Stadium and we really looked forward to our first game on our new FieldTurf," said Harvard Head Football Coach Tim Murphy. "Aside from being a great playing facility, FieldTurf will also make our place look great 365 a year, so we're fired up."
"FieldTurf is absolutely delighted to be associated with Harvard Stadium," said FieldTurf CEO John Gilman. "This is really the quintessential melding of old and new. On one hand, you've got Harvard Stadium, one of the classic and venerable stadiums in the United States. And then there's FieldTurf, which in a very short time, has become THE artificial turf of choice at 2000 locations in more than 40 nations. There's no doubt that Coach Murphy and his players will thoroughly enjoy the experience of playing and practicing on FieldTurf."
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 use FieldTurf at their stadiums.
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.
For more information on FieldTurf, please visit www.fieldturf.com or call (800) 724-2969.