Bill Squires, FieldTurf Representative, Remarks on FieldTurf in Carrier Dome
Opening Remarks
"This is a big day for FieldTurf. We have 1,500 installations world-wide. Just this past week or so, we got the contracts at the Edward Jones Dome where the St. Louis Rams play. We just got the contract at the RCA Dome where the Indianapolis Colts play and those by far are great, great deals for us, but today is a record-setter for us. This is the largest contract that we've had up to this point in time. Five fields, 300,000-square feet of the FieldTurf in-field surface and then 85,000-square feet of the AstorTurf surface which will be placed at Coyne Field. So, it's a great, great day for FieldTurf and it's a great day for Syracuse University."
"You probably see us on TV every weekend in the NFL. We've got almost every NFL facility, plus practice facilities. We're in baseball season right now and if you look at Minnesota and Tampa and Toronto, we're there. If you look at top-flight Division I college football teams, we're there. It's just another great day in the life of FieldTurf and it was just a pleasure working with Daryl (Daryl Gross, SU Director of Athletics) and Pete (Pete Sala, Carrier Dome Assistant Director of Facilities Operations) and Pat (Pat Campbell, Carrier Dome Managing Director) and his staff and coming up and giving a presentation. I will tell you they are no-nonsense type of individuals. They drive a hard bargain. But, that's OK. We know this program is coming back to prominence and we want to be part of it. It's just a great day for FieldTurf, what can I say? Thank you."
Squires on the care involved with the new surface:
"The entire football field will be inlaid, just like it is now. That means your endzone lettering, your center logo, all your football reference marks along with your coaches boxes and your border, so there is no painting involved whatsoever. Maybe once a month or five or so weeks, you groom the field with a special groomer that we provide as part of the deal. All it does is fluff-up the synthetic fibers, it redistributes the rubber sand mixtures and levels the field. That is really limited maintenance, that's all you need to do."
Squires on how long it lasts:
"The actual warranty on the syntetic fiber is eight years and that has to do with the UV protection, we expect here because there is no UV that it will last a lot longer. The oldest field out there is about eight years old so we are starting to find out how long these fields last in different environments. It comes down to UV, use and proper maintenance -- which I am sure won't be a problem for Pat and Pete's staff."
