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INSIDE THE NFL

A Second Life for Grass

by Peter King

Posted: Wed September 24, 1997

It's looking as if the Lions' new downtown stadium, which is scheduled to open in three to five years, will be domed. If so, Detroit could have the first indoor venue with a full-time grass field. "It's not a pipe dream anymore," says Tom Lewand, the Lions' director of stadium development. "From an agronomist's standpoint, we're almost there. We're going to try to design a facility with sufficient translucency in the roof to let in enough light, and we're trying our best to get a roof with at least partial retractability."

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Indoor grass first surfaced during the 1994 World Cup in the Lions' current home, the Pontiac Silverdome. But after rolling the grass in and out for three weeks, the turf and the 6,500 pallets on which it was stored were rotting. So the Lions and grass experts at Michigan State are trying to develop a strain that can last five months indoors.

What a welcome relief that would be to players, who have long complained about the toll artificial turf takes on their bodies.

Issue date: September 29, 1997