The NFL wanted a lush Super Bowl field, but ended up with an ice rink
Yanqi Wu watched only snippets of Super Bowl LVII on delay Sunday night. He is the rare person who knows more about grass than the sports played on it. A professor in the plant and soil sciences department at Oklahoma State University, Wu developed one of the grass varieties chosen for the Super Bowl field. Despite only catching highlights on YouTube, Wu could sense that the playing surface in Glendale, Ariz., had attracted unwanted attention. “Yes,” Wu said Monday. “I observed that information scanning social media.”
As Sunday night wore on, the State Farm Stadium turf became a character in the drama. Ballcarriers slipped when they tried to cut. Discarded cleats piled up on the Philadelphia Eagles’ sideline. Upturned divots dotted the field. Eagles kicker Jake Elliott skidded as he booted a kickoff. Pass rushers’ feet spun in place as if they were Fred Flintstone. Eagles linebacker Haason Reddick called it “the worst field I ever played on.”
Wu never worried his grass, a strain of Bermudagrass known as Tahoma 31, could be the culprit. Turf experts affirmed Wu’s confidence Monday. Still, the NFL had provided a Super Bowl field that Eagles tackle Jordan Mailata compared to a water park. Given the time, effort, brainpower and resources devoted to every last detail of America’s biggest sporting spectacle, how could such an elemental piece of the game falter so thoroughly?
The slipperiness led turf management experts to theorize that the NFL prioritized the field’s aesthetics over its playability, that the league manipulated the grass so it would look lush and green to the potential detriment of traction. Wu said he did not want to speculate about the field’s condition because he was not on-site and his expertise is breeding grass, not managing it. When asked why the NFL would deploy the technique it used to prepare the field, though, Wu replied, “It’s for the beauty.”
The NFL did not make field director Ed Mangan or any other grounds-keeping personnel available for an interview.
“The State Farm Stadium field surface met the required standards for the maintenance of natural surfaces, as per NFL policy,” the NFL wrote in a statement. “The natural grass surface was tested throughout Super Bowl week and was in compliance with all mandatory NFL practices.”
Tahoma 31 is newer than most grasses, but it is not novel. Wu began breeding it in 2006. Tests began in 2008 and continued for a decade. In 2017, it was released for commercial production and several major stadiums and ballparks use Tahoma 31 — including Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Eagles, according to Oklahoma State. Dodger Stadium and Churchill Downs have installed Tahoma 31. Arkansas uses it at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, which last year the Sports Field Management Association named its college football field of the year.
“There’s nothing wrong with that grass,” North Carolina State University turfgrass management professor Grady Miller said. “A lot of people are zeroing in on Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass, which is actually the least likely culprit of the scenario, to be quite honest. There’s been a lot of fields put in with Tahoma 31. It’s been a good grass. It is a good grass.”