Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II has announced a resurface for its Acrisure Stadium in the runup to the next season. The field received a very poor rating from its own players in a report drawn up by the NFL Players Association.
According to leaked team report cards, players of the Pittsburgh Steelers rated the field with an F, the lowest possible rating. However, the score card does not reflect that Acrisure Stadium hosts home games of the Steelers as well as the NCAA’s Pitt Panthers and, as such, experiences high traffic and limited time for the grass to recuperate.
According to a journalist from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, following the leaking of the rating to the general public, Rooney II has committed himself to replace the field as soon as the season breaks.
According to the reporter, the Steelers will use Tahoma 31 Bermuda grass for the new field. This mixture of Bermuda and bluegrass is grown on plastic sheets, a development that FIFA has pioneered for the upcoming FIFA world cup in north America.
Not a proven solution yet
The solution was heavily criticised during the FIFA Club World Cup last year. Recently, the NFL received flak for using the surface for the Super Bowl LVII. Many still perceived the surface as being too slippery, although this was blamed on the late installation of the surface at the venue.
The same surface is also used at the stadiums of the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles. These fields were rated with a C and A respectively in the latest NFLPA score card rating.