Monday, May 25, 2009
San Jose State goes to FieldTurf
Another school moves from natural grass to FieldTurf. San Jose State's Spartan Stadium made the move as documented by this video of an interview with Athletic Director Tom Bowen (video even samples Springsteen's "Working on a Dream"). While I love the environmental benefits touted, especially the use of recycled plastic and the water savings (especially in parched California), there is something organic about a natural grass field that I will continue to long for. While there is a significant move in football circles towards artificial turf, it is interesting to see that there are only three major league baseball fields with synthetic turf (Toronto, Tampa Bay, and Minnesota). That number will drop to two next year when the Twins move into Target Field.
New on-campus stadium for University of Akron
Boy, have I been sleeping on the job. I am getting ready for a nice trip to the Cleveland area, rife with the excitement of getting to visit two FBS College football stadiums in the Northeast Ohio area that I have not yet seen, those being the stadiums for the University of Akron and Kent State. The MidAmerican Conference is one which is sorely lacking in my list of visited stadiums, so it would be nice to get some of these under my belt. So, when looking into the Rubber Bowl, I find that it is closed. What is going on? To my surprise, I find out that the University of Akron will be moving into a new on-campus stadium for the 2009 season. I definitely am humbled by this oversight!
The new InfoCision Stadium -- Summa Field will open on Akron's campus, bringing football back to the campus. A quick search revealed that InfoCision is a telemarketing firm based in Akron...not sure how much goodwill the company will gain from the fans used to getting calls at 7 pm by lending their name to this project. The stadium will seat 30,000 and will include 522 club seats, 152 loge seats, and 17 suites according to information provided on the Akron Athletics Department's website. Like many of the stadiums in the Mid American Conference and like the Rubber Bowl that the Zips used to call home, the playing field will be a synthetic one.
The new InfoCision Stadium -- Summa Field will open on Akron's campus, bringing football back to the campus. A quick search revealed that InfoCision is a telemarketing firm based in Akron...not sure how much goodwill the company will gain from the fans used to getting calls at 7 pm by lending their name to this project. The stadium will seat 30,000 and will include 522 club seats, 152 loge seats, and 17 suites according to information provided on the Akron Athletics Department's website. Like many of the stadiums in the Mid American Conference and like the Rubber Bowl that the Zips used to call home, the playing field will be a synthetic one.
So, the Golden Gophers of Minnesota are not the only college team debuting an on-campus this season. All the best to the Zips! 
Rendering of InfoCision Stadium -- Summa Field to be built on the campus of the University of Akron (image from www.gozips.com)
Rendering of InfoCision Stadium -- Summa Field to be built on the campus of the University of Akron (image from www.gozips.com)