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The operator of Lucas Oil Stadium plans to replace the facility’s artificial turf following the upcoming Indianapolis Colts season.
The Capital Improvement Board, a public entity that oversees the stadium and the Indiana Convention Center, plans to spend $1.24 million on the replacement.
The move, approved by the board Friday, will replace the existing slit-film synthetic turf—which last year was criticized by the NFL Players Association for posing more injury hazards than other artificial turf—with a monofilament-type surface.
The new surface, which will be installed by Texas-based Hellas Construction, is a brand called Matrix. It’s the same turf that’s used at So-Fi Stadium in Los Angeles, AT&T Stadium in Dallas and NRG Stadium in Houston. Hellas was selected from five bidders on the project.
The turf replacement will come after its fifth year of use. Most NFL stadiums with turf replace their fields every two years or so. The move coincides with the stadium’s plan to build two massive swimming pools for the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials in June.
“We’ve had our eye on the [turf] issue, and have been listening to the NFL for guidance on that,” said Eric Neuburger, director of Lucas Oil Stadium. “But honestly, we didn’t think the turf field could withstand 2 million gallons of water on it for six weeks.”
The current turf will be dismantled and removed from the stadium starting in March, with the pools built in its place over a span of six weeks. Once the trials have ended, the new turf will be installed, Neuburger said.
“We knew that this turf was reaching the end of its life and that we’d be doing some extreme things down on the field level for the swim trials,” he said. “So, this was the perfect time. And the fact that we’re able to get the type of field that the NFLPA hopes to have on the field worked out even better for us.”
Neuburger said spectators need not worry about the new turf being uprooted during other events on the docket in 2024, such as the Taylor Swift tour dates in November or the Performance Racing Industry. That’s because the field is protected during big events with a product called OmniDeck, which lays atop the field and can withstand extreme loads from stages, semis and even frantic music fans.
“It can definitely withstand these thousands of people coming in for Taylor Swift—and their friendship bracelets,” he said.
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