Another Look at the Rogers Centre's New AstroTurf
Mere days after a good portion of Canada and the Northern United States was blanketed in snow, it’s nice to see something that reminds us spring isn’t too far around the corner.
Hat tip to _zerokarma_ for posting these on the Blue Jays subreddit – it’s a work in progress of the Rogers Centre’s new artificial turf.
Last week, we were privy to a small sample of what to expect from the new AstroTurf 3D Xtreme grass from Stephen Brooks, but these imagines provide a much bigger picture of how big of an undertaking this entire process actually is.
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Check out the images after the jump to take a closer look, plus a panoramic video of the installation courtesy of the Blue Jays.
The first thing I immediately noticed is the actual colour of the turf. While it may be difficult to duplicate the colour of real grass, this iteration of the Rogers Centre’s turf looks at least a little more like the real thing.
Perhaps it was five years of the sun beating down on the GameDay Grass 3D, but the tone of the old artificial turf looked significantly lighter than this new one above.
Installation of the turf coming along at @Rogers_Centre. Still lots of work to be done. pic.twitter.com/dRptRxcKGm
— Blue Jays-Official (@BlueJays) February 3, 2015
Secondly, _zerokarma_ also noticed that most of the seats in the 200 Level have been removed, save for the TD Comfort Clubhouse section directly behind home plate. Does that mean there might be other significant renovations taking place at the Rogers Centre?
Maybe it’s just a case of replacing the seats altogether, because there are still many of the old original Skydome seats strewn around the upper levels of the Rogers Centre.
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It’s probably not a bad idea to freshen things up, considering this is a side-by-side of comparison of what the seats looked like in 1989, and what they look like now; nearly 26 years later.
Update: Multiple ticket holders have confirmed the Blue Jays are replacing the 200 level seats entirely and removing the padding, as they no longer lie in the Club section seating. So every section save for sections 221-226 are being completely replaced.
Once again, hat tip to _zerokarma_ for the new tuff images.
Random Thought… why don't they put dirt into RC during the season?
I understand that putting in a proper irrigation system is an impediment to having real grass but with regards to keeping the players healthy couldn't they put the turf on top of soil? I mean a couple inches of dirt under the turf ought to provide a lot more "give" and reduce the amount of wear and tear on the players bodies nah?
It sounds like they've entertained the idea of a dirt infield (even Jose Bautista mentioned it as a compromise until real grass comes in), but I think the issue is having to reconfigure the field for Argos games. So long as it's a shared stadium for football games, I don't think it's feasible to have a dirt infield with artificial turf.
I believe it was mentioned the concrete is the problem. In order to have dirt running paths they would need to remove enough concrete to allow the clay/dirt to be put in (basically there is no way to do a 3mm or so layer of dirt on concrete given how thin the turf is). That would be an expensive undertaking (engineering, etc) which isn't worth it given the much bigger plans.
So basically just a band-aid solution. Maybe when the Argos find a new home, that would provide a compromise until real grass is put in?
Is it known yet what the status is of Paul Beeston's plans for natural grass? (Considering that he'll be gone after 2015) I hope someone else will carry the plan through.
I think originally the target date was 2018, but with all the news that has surfaced lately, that date seems like more and more of a longshot. My guess … 2020 maybe?
No, the 2018 date for grass installation still stands. They just finalized a contract with the University of Guelph.