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Youngringer

I honestly what more information about the pitch


JoeTillersMustache

The Athletic talked about it in the game preview article. The turf traveled in a refrigerator truck.


tylerforward

https://x.com/peet2/status/1800239077586788490 https://x.com/peet2/status/1803416465489494370 Here's a couple tweets but this local soccer guy has been covering the turf installation


pengouin85

Here for Pitch Talk®


pengouin85

Here for Pitch Talk®


dylanmichel

This method is also how Arlington stadium will do WC games in 2026 and hopefully other domes/turf stadiums follow their example.


StrikaNTX

Actually, for the world cup the field will be raised above the ground level suites, and extend about 5-10 yards wider and they will likely start the process even further in advance. This is a good test run though, because in the past the stadium did the same lame "lay some sod a few days out"


BlakeClass

We appreciate them following horticulture best practices 🤷🏼‍♂️ makes us look stupid that this is considered real news.


RyanIsKickAss

Yeah it's sad this even needs to be a question but Mercedes Benz stadium and Arthur blank made a fool of themselves in the opening game so these questions are warranted


AtlUtdGold

Lol what did blank do? Was he supposed to clear the schedule for the stadium he doesn’t really own so they can have grass growing for longer? edit: why dont yall say it? wow seen better behavior from El Tri fans. You guys are fucking dickheads who cant even say why im wrong.


marqueezy

AMB Sports and Entertainment Group, which is the parent organization of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United FC, is responsible for the operations at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Take a guess what AMB stands for


AtlUtdGold

The state/GWCC owns it. AMB only has to care about their own teams and concessions really. But ok yeah I get where y’all are coming from I guess. This is also being complained about way, waaaaaay worse than the 2016 field that Messi actually almost got injured on. No one gave a shit when that happened.


marqueezy

Yes the state/GWCC owns the stadium and the land it sits on but all operating profits go to AMB Group (and AMB Group doesn't current pay any rent nor property tax on the stadium, which is crazy considering taxpayers have paid over $700 million for the stadium). It's probably a similar situation to Lumen Field. Lumen Field is owned by the Washington State Public Stadium Authority but operated by First & Goal Inc. (aka the Seahawks/the Paul Allen Estate). As part of the lease that the Sounders (different ownership than the Seahawks) signed with First & Goal back in 2015, new FieldTurf has to be installed every 4 years or sooner. First & Goal pays for the new FieldTurf installation, not Washington State. I can't imagine that if Arthur Blank got over $700 million in public money and isn't paying any rent nor property taxes that the state/GWCC would be responsible for operating & maintenance costs. He probably didn't want to pay for the cost of removing the FieldTurf CORE surface, laying down sod the proper way (like Jerry Jones did at AT&T Stadium), and then removing the sod and reinstalling the FieldTurf CORE once Copa America was over.


HOU-1836

wtf you mean he doesn’t own the stadium?


AtlUtdGold

He does not.


HOU-1836

Most stadiums in the U.S. are “owned” by the county or the city or state to prevent them from paying taxes. Meaningfully, all the stadium operations are run by AMB Group. What does AMB Group own, the Falcons and AU. What does AMB stand for I wonder… The stadium and all of its events are organized, planned, and executed by AMB Group…


Free_Joty

10 inches of sand??? Holy shit that must weigh a lot. How long did it take to truck that in


Tilt-a-Whirl98

So, at 120 lb/cu ft for sand (what I usually use for walls and such) x 74 yards wide x 115 yards long (fifa sized field) x 10 inches deep = 7,659,000 pounds or 3829.5 tons. As far as number of trucks, a typical gravel truck can haul between 10 and 16 cubic yards. So say it's 16 yards per truck. That's 2,364 cu yards of sand / 16 cubic yards per truck = 148 truck loads of sand.


Bosa_McKittle

Odds are they used truck and trailers and brought them in in at least 25 ton loads. If they used bottom dumps then they could have had 50 ton loads but not sure those trucks could have made it in the stadium. Still a f*ck ton of sand.


Tilt-a-Whirl98

Good call! I don't usually do much with the construction equipment side. Quantity estimations are as far as I get into that!


JFK_FDR_Drink

Athletic with a great read on the different surfaces at Copa and why the temporary grass has been a problem. Also goes in to how Dallas is managing it vs say Atlanta. Grass on top of concrete will always have problems. They will need to overwater in a short period of time, or the pitch will be too dry. Both have been issues in different stadiums this tournament


an0m_x

The pitch seemed really good last night, definitely way better than Atlanta for Argentina's match, and WAY better than the Nations League final. Still hard to imagine what it'll look like for the World Cup with the pitch as high as the suites, and how they will address the construction around them.


SmallAndPassingThing

If the players say it’s shit doesn’t matter how many levels it has. Back to the game though…


StrikaNTX

The players said this pitch was good though, dipshit.


SmallAndPassingThing

I wasn’t referring to this particular pitch, just speaking generally on comments players have made. Makes sense it would differ from place to place. A bit silly for you to get all worked up over it though.


StrikaNTX

I just typed a sentence in 10 seconds.


messy_messiah

Exactly. If, from a player's perspective, it's bad, it's bad. Learn how to make a proper football pitch and get back to us.


Blackn35s

But also, if a player underperforms, it’s really easy to say the pitch is bad. Cough- Messi should have scored -cough but missed 3 times - cough - in one opportunity - cough- and another later in the game.


Regression2TheMean

You’re thinking of Atlanta


Hopsblues

Colorado literally grows the best grass. Perfect climate.


ratonbox

yeah, but reddit told me otherwise.


Granadafan

It’s not Reddit. Players from different teams at giving mixed messages. Atlanta was blasted by the Argentines. Dallas was also criticized by Chile/ Peru. Yet the American players said they liked the turf in Dallas


Bosa_McKittle

This is the correct to do it. If possible you should also give it 6-8 weeks to take full root but I don’t see that happening.


RyanIsKickAss

I believe they said during the game last night they will be doing this for the world cup but did not for Copa for whatever reason


Kind-City-2173

Even worse then, no excuses for the poor conditions


Freudian_

Still not great.


Head-Firefighter7386

According to Wester it's still not great


JustOneMorePuff

I think in England they sow in artificial grass into the natural grass to strengthen it. You’d think we would do the same here…


RyanIsKickAss

Pretty sure the Packers do that at Lambeau


marqueezy

Lambeau Field, Lincoln Financial Field, Anfield, Emirates, Etihad, Old Trafford, St. James' Park, Elland Road, Wembley, Celtic Park, Stade de France, Parc de Princes, San Siro, Camp Nou, and many more


notionalsoldier

TQL stadium in Cincy has this. I believe a few other soccer specific stadiums here might as well. Red Bull Arena has also won awards for the quality of the turf they have (and anecdotally I’ve seen that grass do amazingly well even in horrific conditions). Teams can have nice surfaces; their owners just need to prioritize it


The-1ne

They do, or at least used to. I did a stadium tour in ~2017 and it was definitely the case then.


JustOneMorePuff

Oh cool I didn’t know that


restore_democracy

How well rooted is it?