by Brianna Crandall — March 28, 2014—A year after installing two AstroTurf 3D Xtreme practice fields at the Sherman E. Smith Training Center, Oklahoma State University has again tabbed the pioneers of the synthetic turf industry to resurface OSU football’s newly renovated Boone Pickens Stadium. Installation of the new 76,000-square-foot AstroTurf field is scheduled to begin on May 12, and once underway the project will be updated live with continuous shooting photography on the AstroTurf Web site.
The new field at Boone Pickens will be AstroTurf’s 3D Decade product, so named because it comes with a newly introduced 10-year warranty. AstroTurf says the full, non-prorated 10-year warranty is made possible by the use of a combination of exclusive AstroTurf technologies that, when combined, deliver the most durable surface in the industry.
The grass-like surface of the AstroTurf field is a combination of the omega-shaped Horseshoe fiber for structural resiliency and slit-film fiber for resistance to wear and sunlight. The cutting-edge creation also incorporates AstroTurf’s patented RootZone technology, a sub-layer of texturized nylon that stabilizes the sand and rubber infill and prevents splash and migration.
The final touch is AstroTurf’s PREFAB system, in which 60 to 70 percent of the surface’s individual and permanent inlays are installed in one of AstroTurf’s climate-controlled factories prior to shipping. This process reduces installation variables, inconsistencies and installation time, says the company. All of these features are engineered to guarantee a consistent playing surface that has garnered rave reviews for its performance, durability and safety.
AstroTurf 3D products are said to excel at an industry concept known as “DIG.” The ideal proportions of high-fiber Density, light Infill, and narrow Gauge (the space between rows of fiber) found in AstroTurf 3D turf systems result in a low DIG rating, which is preferred, says the company. Low DIG translates into fields that perform more like natural grass and minimize the torque generated by cleats gripping the surface, keeping cleats free to move and reducing the risk of injury.
Tracing its roots to 1919, Boone Pickens Stadium is reportedly the oldest football stadium in the Big 12 Conference and one of the oldest on-campus college football stadiums in the country. The stadium was reimagined in conjunction with the “Next Level Campaign” of OSU’s athletic facilities in the early 2000’s, spurred by OSU graduate Boone Pickens’ “monumental” gift of $165 million, reportedly the largest ever received by a university athletic department.
After six years of renovations, the 60,000-seat facility was transformed into a state-of-the-art venue that is said to rival any in college football, although still giving the Cowboys the home-field advantage that “suffocates opponents with the tightest sidelines in all of football” and brings each fan in attendance close to the action. Features of the new multilevel football operations center include football offices, meeting rooms, speed and conditioning center, locker rooms, equipment room, athletic medicine center, media facilities, and hall of fame areas, along with a new training table. Atop the facility, Boone Pickens Stadium is ringed by 99 suites and 3,500 club seats.
