North Carolina will pull up the roots on Kenan Stadium’s grass field and replace it with a synthetic surface, the program announced Monday.
While it won’t look as good on fall Saturdays, it will allow UNC to use the field as often as it wants without damaging the surface.
“Installing synthetic grass at Kenan Stadium not only is the best option for our football team and football game days – it also benefits our other varsity programs that may want to use Kenan as a conditioning space,’' Tar Heels AD Bubba Cunningham said in a statement. “With 28 teams and more than 800 student-athletes, we are always looking for ways to create multi-use spaces, and installing synthetic grass at Kenan does that.”
North Carolina will go with RootZone 3D3 Blend, made by AstroTurf. The installation will begin on May 12, after spring graduation, and take “about eight weeks,” which would put Kenan Stadium’s field back in play well in time for training camp.
“I think this is a positive addition for not only our football program, but the athletics department as a whole,” added Mack Brown. “This will make the facility more versatile and give us a number of options for workouts and practices.”
With the change, North Carolina will become the sixth ACC program to play on an artificial surface, joining Boston College, Duke, Louisville, Syracuse and Wake Forest.
