Field Turf & Bubble on Schoellkopf?

Interesting mention at the end of this IJ article .

In other developments, Cornell is scheduled to replace its artificial surface on Schoellkopf Field with a new Field Turf surface either this year or next year.

And there are plans in the works to put up a bubble that would cover the Schoellkopf playing surface during the winter months, providing more practice space for several sports.

Great find (buried at the bottom of the news column)... will this be a la sucks' bubble thanks to 13 generous alumni?

[www.gocrimson.com]

We saw the bubble when we were in Boston for the hockey game. We wondered about the fans' seats ... or maybe they don't need a place for fans?

MINIteam8s
Great find (buried at the bottom of the news column)... will this be a la sucks' bubble thanks to 13 generous alumni?

[www.gocrimson.com]

We saw the bubble when we were in Boston for the hockey game. We wondered about the fans' seats ... or maybe they don't need a place for fans?

I think it's probably practice only. That's why they say till March. Suspect that's the same with us.

MINIteam8s
We saw the bubble when we were in Boston for the hockey game. We wondered about the fans' seats ... or maybe they don't need a place for fans?

When I was there before the game there were some athletes (I think mens soccer) going in for practice--I didn't see any seating. Like Jim inferred, no need for seating if it's just used for practices.

My bad, thinking we might need a bubble once the season starts. It can't snow in Ithaca once spring sports season starts, can it? Then again, we might not be able to get it down in time for the start of the season if the anchors are buried in snow and ice!

...end of the smart aleck remarks...thanks, that makes sense

Schoellkopf artificial turf field No. 4 (?) is only a couple years old, less than 5, isn't it? Something wrong with this one?

How many have there been? The original, called PolyTurf or PolySurf, came in for football player Ed Marinaro's one or two last years, which means circa 1970. It didn't hold up well, was hard on the feet and abrasive (none of the embedded rubber granules you see now), and was replaced after about a decade. The second one lasted, what, another decade-plus, then there were one, two more fields, like mid 1990s (?) and then early 2000s (?). Or did the second one last almost 20 years?. I'm hazy on the dates but I don't think the current one has been in all that long, has it?

The current one has drainage issues in big rainstorms, but that may be a problem with any turf field.

Jacob '06
The current one has drainage issues in big rainstorms, but that may be a problem with any turf field.

If that's it, the drainage problem would seem to be inadequate drains. You've got a one-acre surface that sheds, not absorbs, water. But that would be the same since circa 1970.

billhoward
Schoellkopf artificial turf field No. 4 (?) is only a couple years old, less than 5, isn't it? Something wrong with this one?

Yes. FieldTurf would have many advantages over the current surface. Because they drain so well, FieldTurf fields don't have crowns, making them superior surfaces for players (particularly the rolling ball sports like field hockey and lacrosse) and spectators (it really makes a difference when your point of view is low). They look better too. But most of all, there are reports of reduced injuries. I don't know enough about the subject to tell you whether there has been adequate research, but these reports have already had one significant effect: Recruits and their parents have become skittish about non-FieldTurf artificial surfaces. Schoellkopf's current surface puts Cornell at a major recruiting disadvantage, particularly when many of our competitors in football and lacrosse -- Pennsylvania, Syracuse, Harvard, Massachusetts, Princeton, Dartmouth, and Yale, for example -- loudly incorporate their new FieldTurf surfaces in their recruiting pitches.

******

Edit: Some of the institutions in the list above only have FieldTurf for one of their facilities (Yale for lacrosse, Princeton for football, etc.).

Hillel Hoffmann
Edit: Some of the institutions in the list above only have FieldTurf for one of their facilities (Yale for lacrosse, Princeton for football, etc.).

Princeton got rid of grass for football too? Does that leave only Yale and Brown with grass football fields in the Ivy league?

Princeton went to artificial turf for its new football stadium this past year. It's where they play their major lacrosse games, the ones that would outsell the gorgeous but smallish (2500) lax/soccer/field hockey Class of 1952 field.

The current - and ugly - turf was installed in the summer of 1999. The upcoming football season will be the ninth played on it. (Note to self: wow. It's been a long time since I graduated).

Chris '03
Princeton got rid of grass for football too? Does that leave only Yale and Brown with grass football fields in the Ivy league?

Doesn't Dartmouth have real grass on their football field?

[begin obscure joke] Insert quirky Lehman rambling speech on astroturf à la the 2004 May graduation ceremony [/obscure joke]

Let's hope the new artificial turf -- saying "artificial turf" dates you, because turf used to mean grass, and now turf on its own means synthetic turf -- has green end zones. Some schools use school colors for the end zones, but it looks ugly otherwise, and worse from the stands when other sports are played where the end zones are parts of the playing field.

billhoward
Let's hope the new artificial turf -- saying "artificial turf" dates you, because turf used to mean grass, and now turf on its own means synthetic turf -- has green end zones. Some schools use school colors for the end zones, but it looks ugly otherwise, and worse from the stands when other sports are played where the end zones are parts of the playing field.

Hell, why not just go all red ala Boise State's blue turf? That way our players will blend in! Besdies, it would be really attractive.

BCrespi
Hell, why not just go all red ala Boise State's blue turf? That way our players will blend in! Besdies, it would be really attractive.

My eyes hurt just imagining a bright red playing field...

KeithK

BCrespi
Hell, why not just go all red ala Boise State's blue turf? That way our players will blend in! Besdies, it would be really attractive.

My eyes hurt just imagining a bright red playing field...

And over time, given weathering, normal wear, and sun fading, it would be a lovely shade of pink in just a couple years.

billhoward
Let's hope the new artificial turf -- saying "artificial turf" dates you, because turf used to mean grass, and now turf on its own means synthetic turf -- has green end zones. Some schools use school colors for the end zones, but it looks ugly otherwise, and worse from the stands when other sports are played where the end zones are parts of the playing field.

I'd rather have colored end zones than they weird, let's write "Cornell" beyond the end zones thing. Perhaps that's for the benefit of lacrosse but is always looked silly to me.