GLENDALE, AZ — The countdown to Super Bowl LVII is underway and so is the work both outside and inside State Farm Stadium.
“We put basically a million pounds worth of grass out here,” said NFL Field Director Ed Mangan.
On Tuesday, Mangan shared the secrets behind the NFL’s most famous turf.
The sod he stood on while speaking to ABC15 was specifically grown for the big game.
“Each roll is about 40 feet long, three and a half feet wide,” said Mangan. “It starts years in advance to grow what we are seeing here.”
“The expectation is that the players come out to a field that is in top quality condition, safe for them, ready to play, and something that looks great for the millions around the world to see it,” said NFL Field Service Director Nick Pappas.
It all starts at West Coast Turf in Scottsdale. The local company is growing Tahoma 31 Bermuda grass on their rural farm.
One of the most drought-tolerant turf grasses on the market.
“As a company, we take extreme pride in putting our product on display for millions to see,” said Jay Danek with West Coast Turf. “This is our ninth time doing the game and it’s special each time. It’s difficult to sleep knowing a hard frost or large rain event could do damage to the field.”
Danek studied Crop and Soil Science at Michigan State University and has been with West Coast Turf for 20 years. Every day he meticulously walks the sod field, keeping an eye out for hot spots or disease issues.
“This field has been growing on plastic at our Scottsdale farm to help develop a more extensive root system,” said Danek. “The plastic keeps the roots from going into the ground and they wrap around the grass creating a tight mat. Tahoma 31 has an extensive root system that makes it perfect to hold up to NFL players and huge stages at halftime.”
Once the Fiesta Bowl wrapped up the sod was rolled up and shipped to State Farm.
That’s when the NFL’s talented field crews went to work.
“The whole field was excavated, removed the surface that was here, and then everything is laser graded so it’s perfectly smooth, perfectly flat, and then we bring the sod in,” said Mangan.
The stadium's unique field tray provides the perfect ingredients for growth and health.
“For weather purposes, we can bring it in on cold nights if we need to or bring it in if we’re getting too much rain, or if we want to make sure we get rain, we can bring it outside the building,” said Pappas. “It gives us a lot of flexibility having a mobile tray like this."
Pappas says it is all to guarantee that by kickoff on Super Bowl Sunday, they’ll be fielding a world-class grass for the NFL’s biggest stage.
