Standard-Examiner (Utah)
OGDEN — College football has its own version of those color personality quizzes. Love Boise State’s famous blue Smurf Turf? Hate Eastern Washington’s new red Inferno turf?
There is no gray area here.It’s as polarizing as politics: Fans either love the attention-getting look or believe anything other than going green as grass is a crime against humanity — even if there is no actual grass involved.
With Weber State holding a contest to collect design ideas for the new turf field to be installed at Stewart Stadium this year, are the Wildcats thinking of rolling out a purple carpet?
It’s unlikely, says Weber State athletic director Jerry Bovee.
“At this point, probably not,” Bovee said. “I think it’s been a good thing for Eastern Washington, but at this point, we’re looking at a more traditional approach. We’re going to look at what everybody sends in and have some fun with this, but going into it we’re looking more at a green turf” with purple accents and logos.
A few have spoken to him in favor of a color turf, but the majority has been in opposition, Bovee said.
“The reaction has been more, ’Don’t put in a purple field,’” he said. “Eastern Washington got a lot of mileage out of it because of how drastic theirs was, but would we get the same reaction?”
There are cost concerns involved with going purple as well.
“There’s a different cost structure with (installing a color field),” Bovee said. “We want to try to do track and field in this project.”
Weber State is offering a pair of season tickets for the 2011 football season to the winner of the design contest. Fans can find more details of the contest at www.weberstatesports.com; the deadline is Jan. 20.
Boise State and Eastern Washington aren’t the only schools to march to the tune of a different color when it comes to turf. The University of New Haven, a Division II school in Connecticut, installed a blue field when reinstating its football program and several high school programs in the country have gotten Crayola crazy.
Louisiana State got some mileage out of an April Fool’s prank post on its athletic site showing the Tigers switching to a purple turf, while rumors of various shades have swirled around some other schools as well, including future Western Athletic Conference member University of Texas-San Antonio.
In an article last week on Yahoo Sports’ new online magazine, The PostGame.com, writer Erica Orange discusses the psychological impact of color on teams’ uniforms and playing surfaces. Orange claims teams in red win more home games and sports performance is enhanced in a blue environment.
Fans might wonder, considering how dominant Boise State is on the Blue en route to becoming a perennial potential BCS buster and how Weber State’s Big Sky Conference foe Eastern Washington won the Football Championship Subdivision in its first season since installing the red turf.
Eastern alum Michael Roos, now a Tennessee Titans offensive lineman, believes the Inferno helped the Eagles blaze into the FCS title game, where they defeated Delaware 20-19.
“They had a good team last year, but just weren’t able to win some close games,” Roos told the Spokane Spokesman-Review. “This year, though, they were able to put it together, and everything seemed to click.
“I think the red turf definitely helped them. It seemed to unify everyone and give them more motivation to protect their home field.”
Roos is no unbiased observer: It was his donation that helped pay for EWU’s red turf.
From a marketing standpoint, the media attention, including appearances on ESPN Gameday and in USA Today and Sports Illustrated paid major dividends for Eastern Washington, Big Sky spokesman Jon Kasper said.
Eastern Washington also played twice on ESPN2, Kasper said.
“I think it was immeasurable, what happened this year,” he said. “It’s great when you put in the red turf and then you go undefeated on it and win the national championship, so I don’t know, maybe we’ll see everyone else try to see if it works for them.”
There is a law of diminishing returns, however.
“If people keep doing it, the novelty obviously wears off,” Kasper said.
The on-field product has to hold the attention of fans, recruits and donors as well.
“If they go 1-6, no one’s talking about Eastern Washington at the end of the year,” Kasper said.
Love it or hate it, the red turf gets a reaction.
“Obviously there are people that don’t like Eastern’s turf, there are people that don’t like the Boise turf, but if people are talking about you, there is no such thing as negative news,” he said.
What about the Wildcats?
“I would love to see Weber put purple turf in,” Kasper said.
