 "Photo: THE REVIEWAyelet Daniel")
Artificial turf will be installed at Delaware Stadium this winter, university officials announced Nov. 24. The new surface will allow other teams besides the football team to hold games in the 22,000-seat stadium.
Starting Dec. 1, crews began removing the grass surface of Tubby Raymond Field and installing FieldTurf, the same surface installed on the football practice fields in 2008. Associate Director of Athletics Sue Groff said the surface will be installed by Clark Companies of New Delhi, New York. Work is expected to be finished in time for the 2010 lacrosse season.
“We chose to start now because there are no events between now and April,” Groff said. “The financial funding wasn’t available until this past summer and its perfect timing.”
Men’s lacrosse will play three games at Delaware Stadium this spring, and both the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams will play all their home games there starting in 2011. Currently, the teams play at Rullo Stadium, because officials worried overuse of Delaware Stadium would tear up the grass surface.
“With artificial turf, we can hold more events on it such as concerts and university-related events,” Groff said.
The university also has preliminary plans to use the stadium to host more high school events, such as championship and all-star games.
“This is just one of several improvements we plan to make as we enhance the footprint of our athletics facilities here at the University of Delaware,” athletic director Bernard Muir said in a statement, adding that the university has future plans to install more artificial fields on campus for recreational use.
Men’s head lacrosse coach, Bob Shillinglaw, said the new installment will increase the attraction for recruits and the level of play. Shillinglaw said that some of the alumni did fundraising for the new field.
“The lacrosse team hasn’t played on grass since 1999,” Shillinglaw said. “It’s sturdier and more reliable than grass. To play in a quality facility like ours, it will attract top recruits.”
The current field at Delaware Stadium was installed only four years ago, at the cost of $900,000, after a significant rain in 2005 left the old field in such poor shape that a home football game had to be moved to Richmond, Va. Officials have not yet said how much the latest renovations will cost.
The university’s decision follows a national trend, as the school becomes the 10th Colonial Athletic Association school to install artificial turf. By next season, Rhode Island will be the only CAA school that still plays its home games on natural grass.
In a statement, Hens’ head football coach K.C. Keeler praised the move.
“This is an exciting enhancement for our program, gives us a great surface to play on and makes Delaware Stadium so much more valuable,” Keeler said. “It provides the university another place to hold events such as all-star games and state championships.”
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