Courtesy of @Greg_Byrne
What? No copper turf?
The Arizona Wildcats, via athletic director Greg Byrne’s twitter account, released an image of the design for the team’s new FieldTurf CoolPlay surface, which will be installed at Arizona Stadium this winter.
Notice the ghost lettering of “Bear Down” across midfield.
Another change from last season is that the end zones will be shaded navy blue, while retaining the red-lettered “Arizona” that spans the width of the field. The block “A” at midfield is slightly larger. The old logo didn’t quite go from 45-yard line to 45-yard line. The new “A” is 14 yards wide and extends from hashmark to hashmark.
The Pac-12 logos, situated at the 25-yard lines, remain where they were.
The installation of the artificial turf will displace the Wildcats from the stadium for their spring game, which will be held at Sancet/Kindall Stadium across the street on April 13. The former home of the UA baseball team was converted last season to a football practice facility.
Coach Rich Rodriguez’s preference has been to play on artificial turf; his teams at West Virginia and Michigan played on a version of FieldTurf.
“We’ve had a beautiful grass field and we can certainly grow grass here and all that,” Rodriguez said on Signing Day earlier this week.
“But I think for us, from a functional standpoint, being able to practice on it two days a week and for our guys to work on it year-round ….I think there is something different about practicing in the stadium. Plus, from an aesthetic standpoint, you’re going to be able to see a nice green field.”
You can read more about FieldTurf CoolPlay at this link.
Here is a look at the old block “A.” Compare its size to the one on the new field design. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images