Notre Dame releases design for new field turf, featuring shamrocks and a block "ND"
Notre Dame has released the design for its new FieldTurf and it looks suitably old timey for the venue in which it’s being installed.
The Irish are retaining the slashes in the end zones but adding a blue block “ND” to the center of the field and small shamrocks at the 35-yard lines where kickoffs will take place. If you thought the slashes (which have been the only adornments on the field in recent years), were simple slashes, a lot of thought went into them. From Notre Dame’s release on the design:
The football field itself will include the traditional diagonal striping in both end zones. There will be 18 lines (nine in each end zone), and they will be oriented at 42-degree angles toward the Basilica and the Golden Dome. The numbers 18 and 42 represent 1842, the year the University was founded.
The Basilica is the beautiful large church at the center of campus and is located directly next to the Golden Dome, which serves as the main administration building for the school.
Athletic director Jack Swarbrick announcedin April that the Fighting Irish were switching from grass to FieldTurf. Notre Dame made the switch after finding no viable alternative to keeping the grass alive after repeated Novembers that featured brown aesthetics and poor footing for the Irish and opponents alike. For fans particularly torn up about the transition to artificial surface, the university sold patches of grass at the low, low price of $149.95.
The school has also announced a $400 million stadium expansion plan that will incorporate premium seating, academic space, a new workout facility and increased broadband coverage. The House That Rockne Built first opened in 1930 and underwent renovations in the '90s that increased the seating by 21,000.
