ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — As with any new lawn, it takes time for roots to take hold and the foundation to strengthen.
And that applies to the Bills' new Highmark Stadium, where the grass field showed signs of wear and tear before, during and after Buffalo’s preseason-opening 29-14 win over Carolina on Saturday.
No need to worry, Bills president Pete Guelli told The Associated Press on Monday, a day after team officials — including general manager Brandon
Beane and trainers — toured the field with its groundskeeping crew as part of a planned inspection.
“From a playability and safety perspective, everybody’s very happy,” Guelli said. “It’s Year 1. So it’s a brand new field and it’s going to take time for the foundation to build up. So some of the things people saw in the game, those will dissipate over time.”
Guelli was referring to clumps of turf being churned up, with one official having to briefly stop the play clock to replace a divot. Before the game, parts of the field appeared more gray than green. Afterward, the most worn portion was between the hash marks, and members of the grounds crew re-seeded parts of the field not long after the final whistle.
Jarring as it may have appeared, Guelli said the field getting torn up was no surprise.
“Our grounds people were aware that was a possibility. Until it actually happens in a game as the field is maturing and the root system is setting, those things can happen,” he said. “It was attended to quickly and the game was able to continue. And we were comfortable with the performance after that.”
The game was the first at the $2.1 billion stadium. The Bills also practiced there a week earlier.
The team will take the field again on Tuesday morning for a practice open to fans, before hosting Pittsburgh on Aug. 27 in its preseason finale. Buffalo’s home opener is against Detroit on Sept. 17.
The new stadium has been criticized on social media based on pictures of seats with views obstructed by guardrails and stairs. The said it has received complaints from less than 1% of its season-ticket holders and is working to resolve each issue on a case-by-case basis.
With the move across the street from their old home, the Bills switched from artificial turf to grass. The old surface was routinely panned by Bills players for being among the league’s worst in annual polls released by the NFL Players Association.
Owner Terry Pegula backed the switch, saying he prefers grass. The players union overwhelmingly favors grass fields, citing statistics indicating more injuries take place on artificial surfaces.
The Bills went with Kentucky bluegrass supplied by New Jersey-based Tuckahoe Turf Farms, which has numerous NFL and Major League Baseball clients. The company installed the same turf on the Bills' practice field, which was sodded about a decade ago.
The field at the open-air stadium may have been put down 10 months ago, but it takes longer than that to mature.
“It’s also about the organic matter under the roots,” Bills senior VP of venue operations Andy Major said. “Organic matter builds up over time, over years, and gives a little more stability than, say, a virgin field that has sand in those areas.”
The groundskeeping crew is monitoring the field by in part by comparing it to how the grass grew over time on the practice field. The crew also has ventilation, heating and grow-light systems at its disposal.
To reduce wear and tear, the Bills elected against holding any concerts at the stadium this year, though various events will be scheduled for next year, Guelli said. For this year only, the Bills will also not host the region’s high school football championships in November.
The next big test will come with the arrival of winter, and the familiar snow and winds blowing in off nearby Lake Erie.
“We think we’ve figured it out, but it’s going to take time to see all the different iterations and different conditions,” Guelli said. “And once we get there, we’ll just continue to adjust.”
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