KENT, Ohio, Dec. 22, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- FieldTurf has been selected for installation at Schoonover Stadium, the brand-new, state-of-the-art baseball facility that will open this spring at Kent State University. The joint announcement was made by KSU Athletic Director Laing Kennedy and FieldTurf CEO John Gilman.
Currently under construction, Schoonover Stadium will be one of the finest baseball facilities in the Midwest. More than $1.5 million was donated for the project by the Schoonover family, in honor of their parents who were longtime supporters of Kent State athletics. Schoonover will have a capacity of 1,148 (including some chairback seats), and will feature a modern scoreboard and a landscaped plaza.
Already the No. 1 artificial turf choice for NCAA football and NFL stadiums, FieldTurf is rapidly becoming the hot product at many baseball facilities. On the major league level, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos used FieldTurf during the 2004 season.
"We're very proud to be associated with this beautiful new baseball stadium at Kent State," said Gilman. "It's going to be a state-of-the-art baseball facility, and with FieldTurf, it will have a state-of-the-art playing surface. FieldTurf is the undisputed leader in the artificial turf industry. Everyone knows us from our many high-profile football and soccer installations, and now through Major League Baseball and universities like Kent State, everyone is learning how great FieldTurf is for baseball as well."
"We are very pleased to have the opportunity to install FieldTurf at our new Schoonover Stadium," said Kent State Athletic Director Laing Kennedy. "We feel that for our baseball program, FieldTurf gave us the perfect combination of price and quality for our playing surface.
"With FieldTurf, the northeast Ohio weather has been taken out of the equation," continued Kennedy. "Whereas before with natural grass, we were often faced with delays and high maintenance on the field, we feel that we have eliminated those obstacles while also extending our playing season. We also feel that FieldTurf will allow us to attract major Division I opponents for home games."
Kent State has long had a rich tradition in baseball, with several former Golden Flashes having made it to the major leagues. Last season, KSU posted a 36-27 record and captured the Mid-American Conference tournament championship, thus earning a berth in the NCAA Regionals. In 2005, their first season playing at Schoonover, the Golden Flashes will be under the direction of first-year Head Coach Scott Stricklin.
FieldTurf has become the unquestioned artificial turf of choice of the NCAA and the National Football League. A few of the NCAA institutions that have FieldTurf in their football stadiums include Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington, Kansas State, Boston College and Missouri. Twenty of the NFL's 32 teams currently have FieldTurf at either their stadiums and/or their practice facilities. In a poll of all NFL players, the NFL Players Association ranked FieldTurf as the third-best of the NFL's 32 stadium fields. In that poll, FieldTurf finished ahead of 20 of the league's 22 natural grass fields. FieldTurf was also the first artificial surface approved for World Cup play by FIFA, the world governing body of soccer.
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 directly on top of the FieldTurf surface.
Over the past few years, the quality and performance of FieldTurf's patented system has resulted in over 1000 installations in more than 20 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 offers a full range of artificial grass solutions.