The grass is getting greener in Kenan Stadium.
After six years with turf, the stadium is returning to a grass field. The transition, which includes excavating 3,000 to 4,000 tons of gravel and installing 67,000 square feet of sod, is expected to be complete by the end of March.
Following the December hire of former NFL coach Bill Belichick, the new staff wanted to return to grass.
“With the coaching change, we had a new staff that comes in,” Casey Carrick, assistant athletic director for facilities and turf management, said. “[After] talking with the staff, their preference was to play on natural grass, so that played a really big key in it.”
The coaching change wasn’t the only component in the decision. The turf was reaching the end of its lifespan, an expected symptom of the synthetic field, so the project isn’t starting from scratch.
With this in mind, the crew left a lot of things in place from its original grass field. The main irrigation lines are still in the field as well as the drainage system.
"We didn’t have to rebuild all that this time," Carrick said.
The decision also boiled down to safety.
“Natural grass is a safer playing surface than artificial surface,” Carrick said. “I think the coaching staff realizes that and knows that just from their time being in football, whether it be college or NFL. So, that’s the major advantage of having a natural grass field, especially here in North Carolina where we’re really able to grow quality grass year-round.”