Sports turf should take the tackles – survive kick-offs, sliding dives and cleat-clad, heavy players. Super Bowl seed needs to stand the rough-and-ready workout it will endure on Jan. 26, 2003, when two teams test just how durable a turf seed is – and, see who will win the championship, of course.
Two NFL teams will pass the pigskin across Pennington Seed’s Jet Perennial Ryegrass and Mallard Kentucky Bluegrass turf this year. More than 100,000 square feet of hybrid Bermuda sod is currently being cultivated at West Coast Turf’s Indio, Calif., facility, and the company will ship the sod 120 miles to San Diego so West Coast Turf crews can carpet the stadium green in time for the event.
“The playing field plays an incredibly important role in every football game at every level,” pointed out George Toma, Super Bowl XXXVII turf consultant, who was inducted into the professional football Hall of Fame for his field preparations. “When you bring the two best teams together for the biggest single sporting event in the world, the quality of the turf on the field is absolutely critical.”
Toma knows this firsthand. At last year’s University of Hawaii opening game with Montana State at War Memorial Stadium in Maui, Toma reconditioned the worn-out field in time for kick-off by pre-germinating the site with ryegrass and seeding the field eight days before the game. “…It was in great shape by kick-off,” he said, adding that since Hawaii does not have sod farms, the turf crew took this alternative approach.
And it worked.
“In fact, I was awarded the game ball because of the condition of the field and also receive the player of the month quarterback award from The University of Hawaii Quarterback Club,” Toma noted.
Pennington Seed and Toma hope for the same winning results on the San Diego field. “Pennington seed is very proud to be playing such an important role in the biggest game of them all, Super Bowl XXXVII,” remarked Sonny Pennington, president and CEO, Pennington Seed, Madison, Ga.
The author is a Contributing Editor to Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at khampshire@lawnandlandscape.com.