LaxTV Forums | A Forum About The MCLA

The North Texas Chapter of USL has pictures of both Plano facilities for the IA Championships:

Russell Creek Park







Highlander Stadium

The fields look a little dry...

Timbalaned wrote:The fields look a little dry...

This is coming from a transplanted Texan... you are correct that the fields look somewhat dry, but that is the way it looks during our winter months. Come late March, early April, the fields will be looking green. When the tourney comes around, the fields will look green.

I am still looking forward to my backyard to become green again after several months of looking brownish/yellowish. We are getting some rain, so that will help.

I am sure the pictures have been taken recently.

let me try to give some info cause im a landscape archirchture major...well i dont know what type of grass it is, but most fields are either common bermuda or hybrid bermuda.... [atleast in the south east] and right now those cultivars are dorment and will come in probably mid march if i had to guess

Hybrid Bermudagrass which is used almost exclusively for sports fields in the South is a warm season turf. That means that when the soil temperatures get into the 50's the turf stops growing or goes dormant. Depending upon the cultivar of turf used they will begin to green up in the spring when the soil temps reach the low to mid 60's. I am confident that in early May in Texas the soil temps will have been in the 60's for nearly a month meaning that the fields should be completely green. They won't be growing much yet (vigorous growth doesn't begin until soil temps are consistently in the 70's), which should make for a very fast track. The stadium I believe is artificial turf so the only concerns there will be getting that darn rubber in your shoes, ears, nose, and my personal favorite your crack.

You sir, are a soil genius.

Wonder if we can get Highland Park to re-tag the endzones as something like "USLIA" for the tourney, rather than it saying "Scots"...

benji wrote:Wonder if we can get Highland Park to re-tag the endzones as something like "USLIA" for the tourney, rather than it saying "Scots"...

lets see you submit that proposal and see how they respond. i'd have doubts but you can always walk in the door confident.

jessexy now that's just not the glass half-full attitude we're gonna need to make this happen.

Do you really think it's an unrealistic request?

I'd rather see them remove the football lines entirely so the field can be properly marked for lacrosse, with no confusion. If the field stays the same they'll be drawing endlines through the Scots name anyway, so there really wouldn't be anywhere to put USLIA.com! I think if we have Sonny walking around in a USLIA.com thong it would draw lots more attention.

On that type of turf, the "paint"/lines cannot be removed as they are sewn in as part of the turf. They could be painted over with a water based paint, if the school district would allow it.

shrekjr wrote:On that type of turf, the "paint"/lines cannot be removed as they are sewn in as part of the turf. They could be painted over with a water based paint, if the school district would allow it.

Given that the tourney is in May, and football isn't underway for several months, it would seem to be a reasonable request.
It would really be a shame to have the championship on a field with football lines all over it - it really destroys the visual effect.
Of course if the womens' finals are going to be in the same place you're going to have a whole 'nother set of lines issues!

I highly doubt that you'll be able to paint the lines well enough to disguise them. All you'll be able to do is reduce the contrast but the lines themselves will be visible at field level and definately from the stands (and therefore on any CSTV broadcast)

When the NCAA lacrosse championships were in Baltimore two years ago, they painted over the permanent fieldturf football lines at M&T Bank Stadium. You could still see them, but it made a big difference. (The field at Lincoln Financial in Philly last year did not have permanent football lines, so only lacrosse lines were painted on.)

I don't think this is something we've discussed formally with the Dallas planning committee, although it was mentioned during our site visit in November.

laxfan25 wrote:I'd rather see them remove the football lines entirely so the field can be properly marked for lacrosse, with no confusion. If the field stays the same they'll be drawing endlines through the Scots name anyway, so there really wouldn't be anywhere to put USLIA.com! I think if we have Sonny walking around in a USLIA.com thong it would draw lots more attention.

Wow I didn't even consider field dimensions when I wrote that!

It would be nice, however, to have this tournament have as much of a nationally prominent event vibe to it as possible. You guys have any ideas how the Dallas crew could improve/ modify any aspect of tournaments past to improve in that area?