EAST LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) — Turfgrass researchers at Michigan State University played a key role in creating the playing surfaces for all 16 FIFA World Cup stadiums.
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For the past 5 years, Trey Rogers III, a professor of turfgrass research at MSU, worked on the right mixture of grasses for this summer's tournament.
"Our job was to make the recipe and then to make sure that the sod farms took the recipe," Rogers said.
The process starts in East Lansing, where researchers develop a seed blend, then send it out to sod farms. The sod is then rolled up and shipped to the stadiums.
"We transport it all the way from Colorado to Atlanta," Rogers said.
Rogers settled on hybrid Bermuda grass for warm-weather stadiums. For cool weather venues, the blend is a mixture of Kentucky Bluegrass and Perennial Ryegrass.
"This grass isn't any different than what's in Spartan Stadium. It isn't any different than what's in Tiger's Stadium. It isn't any different than what's in your yard. It all boils down to the intensity of the management," Rogers said.
The work doesn't stop at the seed blend. Ryan Bearss, a research assistant and Ph.D. candidate at MSU, tests the durability of the turf using a robotic foot to collect data and make proper adjustments.
"Got a 3D molded size 10 US Foot. And it's going to fire at a force equivalent to a 160-175 pound athlete," Bearss said.
The device can simulate both acceleration and deceleration on the turf surface.
"There's just about 100 pitches worldwide they've tested this thing on, so they've been able to develop some pretty cool standards and baselines from it," Bearss said.
Bearss also measures how high soccer balls bounce off the surface, dropping them from 2 meters and using audio recordings to calculate the rebound height.
Rogers said the years of research have paid off, and now it's time to watch the results on the world stage.
"It's been installed correctly. Got some world-class field managers that are going to take care of it. So, let's play," Rogers said.
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