University of Maryland unveiling new high-tech football field in Aug. 18 scrimmage

Football junkies can get a first glimpse of the University of Maryland’s high-tech, synthetic turf field at Byrd Stadium in an open team scrimmage at 3 p.m. on August 18, reports the Washington Post.
The field, known as the FieldTurf Revolution Surface, is about three times the cost of standard synthetic fields, at $3 million. The University of Maryland’s athletics department is hailing it as the “coolest synthetic turf field in the nation,” thanks to the heat-reducing technology CoolPlay, which can keep the surface temperature of the field a full 15 degrees Fahrenheit lower than other turf fields.

While the synthetic playing field allows for CoolPlay, concerns still remain about players’ safety on a turf field. According to the Washington Post:

Maryland officials also cite a five-year study of college football published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine that concluded FieldTurf was safer than natural grass. That’s at odds, however, with the 2010 findings of the NFL’s Injury and Safety Panel, which found that the rate of anterior cruciate ligament injuries was 88 percent higher in games played on FieldTurf. [more]

According to a University of Maryland press release, the new field is privately funded. In the release, Maryland head football coach Randy Edsall said, “The addition of this new field will excite our entire student body and will be invaluable when it comes to recruiting in the future.”