The Pittsburgh Steelers have addressed the conditions of the field at Acrisure Stadium, which received an F-minus grade in annual report cards from the NFL Players Association last season.
Due in part to the poor field conditions at their home stadium, the Steelers ranked last in the survey of NFL players. Soon after the report card results were leaked, Steelers team president Art Rooney said the heavily reviled playing surface would be replaced.
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Approximately four months later, a new grass field has been laid down at Acrisure Stadium, according to Steelers on SI’s Jack Markowski. Precision Turf announced that a Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass was installed this week.
Rooney told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in late February the Steelers had planned to install a new field before the NFLPA survey results were leaked. A league mandate requires that all playing surfaces had to fulfill standards established by lab and field testing.
The new Tahoma 31 surface was installed in July so that the sod could take root. Laying down the surface too soon before the NFL preseason begins would result in the grass pulling up too easily, as happened during Super Bowl 57 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
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A mixture of Bermuda and bluegrass, Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass is more resistant to cold conditions and has previously been installed at Chicago’s Soldier Field and Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.
Acrisure Stadium’s field was previously made of Kentucky bluegrass, which wore down from being used for Steelers games, in addition to University of Pittsburgh and high school football games during a given season. The field needed to be re-sodded two-to-three times per season, according to Rooney
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was among the most vocal critics of Acrisure Stadium’s field, calling the surface “borderline unplayable” after a Week 6 matchup with the Cleveland Browns.
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Other players have complained about the field, saying it was “too sandy, too slippery” and “too gooey,” according to the Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac.
Five teams received an F-minus in the NFLPA surveys for poor home-field conditions, with the Tennessee Titans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Jets and New York Giants (who share the field at MetLife Stadium) joining the Steelers. The Seattle Seahawks, Carolina Panthers and Buffalo Bills were graded with an F.
Rooney acknowledged that if the new grass field continues to be problematic, an artificial turf surface would be considered.
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