When it debuted in 1965, praise wasn\u2019t universal.<\/b>
\nThanks to those pricey commercial spots, the Super Bowl is nearly as famous for hosting brands as football teams. But there\u2019s one brand that the big game\u2014that professional football, period\u2014has planted so deeply in the national consciousness that millions of Americans know it, even though they don\u2019t own it and it\u2019s not for sale in stores. This curious product is the original fake grass, better known as AstroTurf \u2014\u201cone of the most iconic brands in sports,\u201d according to the company.
But first things first: That artificial turf on your back patio? Yeah, that\u2019s not AstroTurf. Home centers sell any number of ersatz lawns, but these are light-duty brands for the home market. AstroTurf has always been for serious play: college ball, Major League Baseball, the National Football League. To date, nine Super Bowls have been played atop AstroTurf.
Now consider: None of it would have happened had Houston not had so many mosquitos.
AstroTurf took its name from the Houston Astrodome (1), the country\u2019s first atmospherically controlled stadium and the brainchild of Roy Hofheinz (2). Though AstroTurf has been embraced by the pros, it\u2019s more often used by college teams (3) who value its engineered, manufactured durability and consistency (4,5).
1. Alamy Stock Photo; 2. The LIFE Images Collection\/Getty Images; 3,4,5: Courtesy of AstroTurf
In the early 1960s, Houston power broker and former mayor Judge Roy Hofheinz began pushing for a domed, atmospherically controlled stadium. Naysayers ribbed him until, in 1965, he got the thing built. Inspired by the burgeoning space program, Hofheinz named his creation the Astrodome.
But there was a problem. The stadium\u2019s Plexiglas roof that allowed climate-controlled play in Texas\u2019 swampy weather also blinded players with a glare so bad, they dropped the ball. The solution\u2014tinting the panels\u2014posed a problem of its own: The dimming of the sunlight killed off the grass.
\u201cSo Hofheinz picked up the phone and called the folks at Monsanto,\u201d explained AstroTurf international business manager Andy Belles (one suspects he\u2019s told this story many times). In the mid-1950s, Monsanto had developed a product called ChemGrass for use in city school field sports. Snaring the Astrodome commission, Monsanto saw a rebranding opportunity and renamed its product AstroTurf.
The pile: This upper layer is what AstroTurf calls a \u201chigh micron monofilament,\u201d which is basically a very durable fiber that looks a lot like natural grass. The fiber: This texturized layer, called the RootZone, features crimped filaments that hold up the main fibers and provide more consistent footing for players. The height: One of the obvious advantages of artificial turf: The grass stays at a perfectly uniform height. For football, that\u2019s between 40 and 60 millimeters.
Raquel Beauchamp and Dianna McDougall
A roll of thermoplastic bristles that looked like grass, stood up to rough play, but didn\u2019t need to be watered or mowed, AstroTurf soon became an NFL darling. By 1984, just shy of 61 percent of pro teams were playing on the green stuff.
Predictably, though, AstroTurf\u2019s popularity opened the field for competitors. To cite a current example, U. S. Bank Stadium\u2014where Super Bowl LII will be played on Sunday\u2014wears Speed Series S5-M turf made by UBU Sports. Minnesota Vikings evp Lester Bagley called the turf \u201cthe last brush stroke of the canvas\u201d when workmen laid it down in 2016.
What\u2019s more, fake grass isn\u2019t quite as popular as it was a generation ago. Super Bowl 50 at Levi\u2019s Stadium, for instance, was played on genuine sod. \u201cWe use the surface that is [already] present at the stadium,\u201d NFL vp of football communications Michael Signora said. \u201cIf it\u2019s grass, we put in a brand new grass field for the Super Bowl.\u201d
When AstroTurf debuted in 1965, praise wasn\u2019t universal. \u201cIf baseball was meant to be played on that rubber mat, I\u2019m crazy,\u201d said Chicago Cubs manager Leo Durocher. AstroTurf mustered a defense with this 1969 ad. \u201cI\u2019ve had no trouble adjusting,\u201d said White Sox shortstop Luis Aparicio.
Bad news for AstroTurf? Not really. According to Belles, AstroTurf\u2014today owned by SportGroup Holding\u2014has found many other surfaces to cover. \u201cTruth be told, professional leagues are high-profile for us,\u201d he said, \u201cbut the meat and potatoes is now, and continues to be, high school and college.\u201d
And what of the humble homeowner? Can he buy AstroTurf if he wants? Well, sort of. AstroTurf has a sister product called SYNLawn, designed for the residential homeowner whose football games are more likely to be the touch kind.
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This story first appeared in the Jan. 29,2018, issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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