Letters to the Editor

The safest choice

To the Editor:

Next year, the turf at Franklin Field will be upgraded. As someone who has closely followed the recent "turf wars" (an odd hobby, I admit), I feel compelled to make a plea to the Athletic Department. I believe Penn should select FieldTurf for Franklin Field for several reasons:

1. FieldTurf is the innovator. Before Nebraska boldly installed FieldTurf in 1999, schools were still installing Astroturf. After FieldTurf gained recognition, the Astroturf makers started scrambling to make something to compete. They then introduced NeXturf and AstroPlay only in response to FieldTurf's innovation.

2. FieldTurf is the industry leader. The article that ran in The Daily Pennsylvanian ("Athletic Department plans to redo turf at Franklin," DP, 10/23/03) showed a grid with three locations where AstroPlay, FieldTurf and Sprinturf are installed. The graph was slightly misleading, though, because Sprinturf is hardly installed anywhere, AstroPlay has a small market share and FieldTurf is everywhere -- teams in Major League Baseball (Devil Rays), the National Football League (Jets, Giants, Lions, Falcons and Seahawks, plus over a dozen practice facilities) and NCAA Football (27 Division I programs) have FieldTurf surfaces. With 773 installations total worldwide, none of FieldTurf's competitors come close.

3. FieldTurf is the safest surface. The Chicago Bears played their 2002 season on AstroPlay and had the most injuries of any NFL team that season. Mike Brown, the Bears starting free safety, was quoted in the July 27, 2003 edition of the Chicago Sun-Times saying, "I didn't feel like it was a safe surface to play on." He went on to mention that it was inferior to FieldTurf. San Diego State University and SUNY Cortland are disappointed with their Sprinturf installations. Carlsbad High School in California even found a large amount of metal in the rubber infill of their Sprinturf. While there is debate on whether AstroPlay and Sprinturf are unsafe, no player or school has publicly suggested that FieldTurf is unsafe.

4. The Atlanta test. When the Atlanta Falcons began their search for a new field, they wanted a fair process, the best surface and, most importantly, what the players wanted. They conducted a blind test with five fields: AstroPlay, NeXturf, Sprinturf, RealGrass and FieldTurf. They asked the players to rate them on seven categories: start/stop, balance, cut/plant, speed/quickness, impact, abrasion and appearance. FieldTurf finished first in every category.

5. The NFLPA (Players Association/Union) Field Survey. Every other year, the NFLPA surveys players on the best and worst playing surface. After only three years in the league, the FieldTurf surface in Seattle finished third, ahead of many natural grass fields. All other artificial turf fields were ranked 20th or below.

I'm sure the competing turf companies will offer Penn wonderful deals and discounts to get an installation at such a historic and classic location. However, quality of play, player satisfaction and -- above all -- player safety should never be compromised. Selecting FieldTurf would be consistent with Penn's ability to identify excellence.

Derek Hunsberger

Staff member

Housing and Conference Services

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