South end zone project?

[JohnnyDoeBoiler]

Google says $720M. But for half of that you can have a nice modern stadium like Minnesota or Baylor. So if anyone has 300 mil lying around..

Would have loved to have built a brand new stadium in the IM fields where the tailgating is now and moved the CoRec up to where the stadium is now. The new location would have been great for traffic given the location to new 231 and US 52. Tailgating could have been pushed over to the airport intramural fields and Purdue West could have been given a massive face lift. Also could have run a new track facility in to the budget as well.

Had I won that massive near $2 billion lottery, I was going to propose that and front 60% of the bill for it...but alas I'm still here teaching high school teenagers and waiting for Gov. Holcomb to approve of a teacher raise!

 

[TipofMittBoiler]

If this were even remotely true, not a single southern major college program with a grass growing season into late November would have FieldTurf. And yet the exact opposite is true.

This is not an accurate statement to be polite. Florida, Florida St., Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi St., LSU, Texas A&M, Clemson, South Carolina, Duke, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Arizona St., USC, UCLA, Stanford, Virginia, & Virginia Tech all have natural turf fields and are major programs. The majority of schools with Fieldturf do not have Ag programs and don't have the knowledge or resources (qualified people) to produce a quality natural turf field.

The field at Ross-Ade was re-sodded prior to this season with Latitude 36 bermuda, a "cold tolerant" variety of bermuda which has vastly improved the surface from when I was a student. It is also over-seeded with perennial rye mid-season for aesthetics and density. While attending Purdue, I worked for the athletic department on the Ross-Ade turf in the early 2000's and can tell you the field has improved ten fold since then. To say Purdue doesn't keep up the field is preposterous. Maybe take a look at PUSportsTurf on Twitter to see some of the turf management that is involved with our natural turf playing surfaces at our fine Alma Mater. #grasscantakemore may also be interesting to some. Turf management is constantly evolving and natural grass fields are benefiting from improved genetic varieties and University research studies.

I understand that some people like the look of Fieldturf. However, a well maintained natural turf field is a safer surface and does not impact the game negatively what-so-ever. Did playing on Fieldturf help Purdue @ Minnesota this year? Football is better on natural turf period. Purdue has an outstanding turf management program and facility maintenance team in place with a legend in William Daniel. To see Fieldturf inside Ross-Ade would be a real shame considering all our resources and expertise.

 

[FirstDownB]

Give me the best playing surface we can afford. Give me whatever Brohm prefers. If it happens to align with our Ag department then all the better. This is big time sports entertainment. The AD should not be beholden to our turf department for decisions like this any more than they are to our Engineering department for the stadium audio and video.

 

[BoilerBulldog]

This is not an accurate statement to be polite. Florida, Florida St., Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi St., LSU, Texas A&M, Clemson, South Carolina, Duke, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Arizona St., USC, UCLA, Stanford, Virginia, & Virginia Tech all have natural turf fields and are major programs. The majority of schools with Fieldturf do not have Ag programs and don't have the knowledge or resources (qualified people) to produce a quality natural turf field.

The field at Ross-Ade was re-sodded prior to this season with Latitude 36 bermuda, a "cold tolerant" variety of bermuda which has vastly improved the surface from when I was a student. It is also over-seeded with perennial rye mid-season for aesthetics and density. While attending Purdue, I worked for the athletic department on the Ross-Ade turf in the early 2000's and can tell you the field has improved ten fold since then. To say Purdue doesn't keep up the field is preposterous. Maybe take a look at PUSportsTurf on Twitter to see some of the turf management that is involved with our natural turf playing surfaces at our fine Alma Mater. #grasscantakemore may also be interesting to some. Turf management is constantly evolving and natural grass fields are benefiting from improved genetic varieties and University research studies.

I understand that some people like the look of Fieldturf. However, a well maintained natural turf field is a safer surface and does not impact the game negatively what-so-ever. Did playing on Fieldturf help Purdue @ Minnesota this year? Football is better on natural turf period. Purdue has an outstanding turf management program and facility maintenance team in place with a legend in William Daniel. To see Fieldturf inside Ross-Ade would be a real shame considering all our resources and expertise.

You’re correct. Basically half the southern D1 schools and 75% or so of the northern schools have abandoned natural grass. And it’s because a grass field in November after 6-7 home games won’t be in the same condition as a FieldTurf surface. It just won’t. We can paint it nice and pretty but it will still be grass clumps through a big chunk of the center portion.

I have nothing against our Ag school. In fact go browse the Wisconsin game thread. I was the first person to compliment the condition of the field this year being better than in the past. But the Ag school isn’t going to decide whether or not we keep the grass.

 

[TipofMittBoiler]

You’re correct. Basically half the southern D1 schools and 75% or so of the northern schools have abandoned natural grass. And it’s because a grass field in November after 6-7 home games won’t be in the same condition as a FieldTurf surface. It just won’t. We can paint it nice and pretty but it will still be grass clumps through a big chunk of the center portion.

I have nothing against our Ag school. In fact go browse the Wisconsin game thread. I was the first person to compliment the condition of the field this year being better than in the past. But the Ag school isn’t going to decide whether or not we keep the grass.

I agree with you both in that the Ag school has no bearing on what type of surface is in Ross-Ade, and that wasn't exactly my point. I like the idea of our Turf Science department being involved with the field, just as much as I would like the Engineering department to be somewhat involved with the construction/design of any improvements to the South-End Zone. Why not get some design concepts from our own talented faculty and students? It would be interesting to see what they come up with! My understanding is that we are currently gathering info and designs. I think the Food Science department was involved with Boiler Gold although I might be wrong on that.

In regards to Brohm, the field was resodded after his first season as our coach. My guess would be if he was absolutely in favor of Fieldturf we wouldn't have sodded the outdoor practice fields and stadium. That could obviously change in the future if these surfaces aren't up to the standards required by our AD, Brohm, and his staff. I don't believe the field has any bearing on recruiting as he is recruiting at a nearly unprecedented level for our program.

 

[NVboiler]

Let's not get our school departments too actively involved like in that recent bridge collapse in Florida which killed a number of people with that innovative design by their faculty, although I think that our departments are of a higher standard.