COLUMBIA, Mo., Aug. 22, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The University of Missouri's successful football program can't seem to get enough FieldTurf. The Tigers already play their home games on FieldTurf at Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field, and now Mizzou will be practicing on FieldTurf as well. Missouri Director of Athletics Mike Alden and FieldTurf Interim CEO David Moszkowski jointly announced that the university will install a FieldTurf football field at the Daniel J. Devine Indoor Practice Facility. The new surface will be available this fall for Head Coach Gary Pinkel's Tigers.
The Devine Facility is named after former Missouri head football coach and College Hall of Famer Dan Devine. Considered one of the top indoor football facilities in the Big Ten, it opened in 1998 at a cost of $12 million. Among other features, the facility includes a large sound system that allows the Tigers to simulate crowd noise as they prepare for road games.
"Field Turf is an outstanding product, we've been very happy with it since we installed it in our stadium in 2003, and we're very pleased to now have it in our indoor practice facility," said Missouri Head Football Coach Gary Pinkel. "Having such a high-quality surface to work on both indoors and outdoors is a huge advantage for our program, and it certainly helps us in our preparations whenever we use it."
"When a major university like Missouri that already has FieldTurf elects to install additional fields with our product, it obviously means that they are a very satisfied customer, and that delights us," said Moszkowski. "Starting with our very first major stadium installation at Nebraska, the Big Ten has always been a very FieldTurf-friendly conference. The Devine Facility is a top-shelf indoor football practice venue, and we're confident that their new FieldTurf surface will elevate it to an even higher level. Coach Pinkel and his players will be very happy with the results."
In 2007, Missouri will be looking to better their successful 8-5 record in '06. Coach Pinkel's troops will open the 2007 season on September 1 at Illinois.
More than 40 major NCAA universities have FieldTurf in their stadiums, with many more utilizing it at their practice sites. A selection of other universities that have FieldTurf in their football stadiums include Syracuse, Rutgers, Boston College, Nebraska, Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington, Kansas State, Louisville, Texas Tech, Missouri and Harvard. In addition, 21 of the National Football League's 32 teams have FieldTurf at their stadiums and/or practice complexes. Also, Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays have FieldTurf at their respective stadiums.
FieldTurf is the result of years of research -- evident in the patented FieldTurf infill mix of silica sand and cryogenic rubber and patented layering process that deliver a system that emulates natural grass. Additional benefits are found in improved player safety, reduced maintenance costs and flexibility for conversion -- allowing stadium managers to quickly change the field from one sport to another or to easily host a variety of sporting events, concerts and other special events on top of the FieldTurf surface.
Over the past few years, the quality and performance of FieldTurf's patented system has resulted in over 2000 installations in more than 40 countries, and has made it the first choice for top stadiums around the world. FieldTurf is a privately held company that has revolutionized the artificial turf industry with its patented products and installation technologies. FieldTurf also offers a full range of artificial grass solutions. For more information on FieldTurf, please visit www.fieldturf.com