RealGM

CHICAGO -- Chicago Park District general superintendent and CEO Mike Kelly said Wednesday the park district had done research to improve Soldier Field's sod and he doesn't expect the Chicago Bears to have any problems with the playing surface this season.

The quality of the field, which is also used for high school football games, concerts and more, has been a concern for football players in the past. Many players, including several on the Bears, have said the field is among the worst in the NFL, especially when the weather gets severe.

A year ago, the Bears had to cancel their Family Fest because the playing surface was deemed unsafe.

"The irony last year when we had the family night even with the sod, that sod actually was the longest-performing sod we ever had in my 10 years at the park district," said Kelly, who announced Wednesday that Soldier Field would host a college hockey doubleheader on Feb. 17, 2013. "It really depends on the weather. So if you get a lot of rain, and they're playing on the rain, it gets chewed up faster. We've been working a lot with experts from out East on the way we grow grass here. I think we've made a lot of changes for better."

Kelly said the type of sod they use for Soldier Field is the key to the improvement.

"The single biggest thing we learned is Illinois soil is very clay based, and the best natural grass grown in the world is sand based," Kelly said. "There's no sand-based sod farms in Illinois, so we've really had to sort of configure. It's a little bit of an art and a little bit of a science on trying to improve the grass out here. As I tell any reporter who asks me, I know more about sod now than I ever certainly thought I would. Soldier Field will perform nice for the (hockey) game, and it will perform top notch for the Bears."

Kelly also expected this year's Bears' Family Fest to go off without a hitch on Aug. 3.

"(The field) will be fine," Kelly said. "It will be perform. It will perform well. We argue still we're the best northern-climate stadium certainly in American that can perform, grow grass as the best you can in October, November, December."

emperorjones wrote:We should have a game to predict the first game that this becomes an issue on the field

Chicago Bears kicker Robbie Gould said the Soldier Field grounds crew made a critical error in leaving the stadium's playing surface uncovered in the hours leading up to a 13-6 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday night.

Weather reports all week called for a chance of heavy precipitation to hit the area before and during the Bears game, but as early as five hours before kickoff the field remained exposed to the elements. Rain began to fall in the area a couple of hours before kickoff and did not cease until after the game.

"For some reason this season, and I don't know whose job it is, and I love our guys in the Chicago Bears organization that takes care of our fields, but I want to know this year who decided to keep the field so soft that it's been tore up the entire year," Gould said Tuesday night on "Football Night in Chicago" on ESPN 1000. "Let's put it to you this way: If I were a grounds crew superintendent, I think I would keep a little bit of an eye if they were calling for rain for six straight days, and I just might roll a tarp out on the field before the game.

"I don't know, maybe that's common sense. Maybe that's too tough to get done. I'm just saying I would do it. I would do it."

Soldier Field is owned and operated by the Chicago Park District, which has said it is open to the idea of switching to an artificial playing surface. However, the Bears continue to say they prefer a grass field.

One of the most accurate kickers in NFL history, Gould connected on 2 of 3 field goals in the wet and windy conditions against the Texans but missed a 48-yarder in the fourth quarter that would have made it a one-point game. For the season, Gould has hit 18 of 21 field goals, with all three misses coming at Soldier Field.

Gould hit a 41-yard field goal to beat the Carolina Panthers 23-22 on Oct. 28 at Soldier Field, but said Tuesday that the deteriorating field made that kick tougher for him and long snapper Patrick Mannelly.

"I don't know what's happening," Gould said. "This year our field has been real bad, it's been tore up. There have actually been some places on the field where some portions of it have actually sunk to a new low level, and the other spots are high. So take for instance the game-winning (field goal) against the Carolina Panthers. On the left hash, three-quarters of the hash is really high and then it's like a cliff, it just falls off for like four or five inches.

"So when we made the kick, if you go and watch that kick on film we are outside the portion of the hash which makes it a lot tougher (with regard) to the timing and the rhythm of the snap for Pat Mannelly. He is the best long snapper in the NFL, so for him he makes it look it easy.

"But it's been really interesting to watch this year how bad our field has really been. I know we have talked about this every single year, probably every single show, can we please hire somebody ... can we please get somebody in there that watches a news report?"

Gould is not the first Bears player to be critical of the field conditions at Soldier Field.

Several high profile Bears players have expressed their unhappiness with the natural grass playing surface in the past few years, including quarterback Jay Cutler who called the Soldier Field turf "one of the worst fields in the league" during a news conference in December 2010. Linebacker Brian Urlacher called the turf "a disaster" and advocated installing FieldTurf in June 2011.

MnM24 wrote:anyone think we should get a closable roof as well?

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk 2