Plus I can’t cite the source at the moment, but I remeber reading that a major stumbling block for grass at quest was the amount of sunlight it would get. Apparently the orientation of the stands prevents the grass from getting it’s optimal amount.

Yeah, that’s what I meant. Wonder if my mind got stuck on the Washington Wizards or something…

As for the grass, I’d be really interested if that were the case. Not being able to import grass if needed would seem to be a mark, hopefully not insurmountable, against getting the WC here.

4th of July? Didn’t the USMNT play at Qwest?

Are you talking about MNT friendlies?

If the WC came, I would think they would put in grass, and not in a “throw it in quick, tear it out fast” sort of way.

I’m very interested to see how BMO does with grass in the frozen north, and thawing muck of early spring and late fall.

The main issue with grass conversion, to me, is that football teams carve a muddy line down the middle of the field. Especially in the wet PNW. Soccer spreads the action out all over (though I remember the mud pits in front of the goals, back in the day). However, the seasons overlap just slightly, and maybe we wouldn’t have that problem.

The last NFL game of the year to be played at Qwest would be the final week of January at the latest (several weeks earlier if the Seahawks don’t make the playoffs or fail to secure a home game). That gives them until June to get a FIFA acceptable natural grass solution in. Since the Seahawks practice at the VMAC during training camp in the late summer, they’ll have a month and change to get the field turf back in for the NFL preseason in August/September, and I’d have to imagine that would be a quicker process than putting the grass in.

Paul Allen and his team seem to be willing to bankroll natural grass if the need arises. They’ve done so before with international friendlies, and that’s probably the key. If the organization can host more friendlies and continue to install grass for these games, it would likely show FIFA we’re serious about giving them an acceptable playing surface.

As for the rain, has the drainage system at Qwest been considered? It’s regarded as being the best in the NFL. Only issue I can remember was the freak squall that parked on top of Seattle during the Thursday Night Football game back in 2006, and that was mostly due to a debris blockage caused by the heavy winds that day. If natural grass was put in, I don’t think the rain would cause the pitch to turn into a mudpit that NFL fans are accustomed to seeing at, say, Heinz Field.

Long story short, if natural grass is needed I think there’s enough time to come up with a plan that leaves FIFA, the Seahawks, and the Sounders happy.

The U.S. did, indeed, play a Gold Cup game last year at Qwest. I’m sure many of this blog’s readers realized that. Whoops, I guess that’s what happens when you’re not working off anything but research. Apparently I neglected to notice the whole Gold Cup tournament, which actually featured four games on FieldTurf. Maybe it’s even less of an issue than I thought.

So as one of those who made the trip to Houston, that pitch was horrid! Adding sand to “even things out” just doesn’t fly.

There is a few things that need to be pointed out, and that starts with the generation of Fieldturf at Qwest. The pitch we have now was installed in 2008 and will be replaced again in at some point. Due to the “other” events at Qwest, where they cover the entire field for concerts, monster truck and motorcross events, the impact to the field is none, where as it would greatly impact a grass pitch. Add in the ability to erase the lines for NFL games and most players will agree that the pitch is as good as it can get in a multi-tenant stadium.

Fieldturf like pitches will eventually be standard for all top leagues, it’s just a matter of time. Adidas proved that they can’t leave well enough alone with their new ball for the World Cup – and the same will happen here.

admittedly having never been to England, I still have an image of soggy English weather.

There was a little rumbling at DSF about players’ potential preference for natural grass. With that noted, I have to imagine that whatever negatives there are to the unnatural feel of FieldTurf pale far, far in comparison to the Unholy specter of football lines. That’s the easiest possible way to make soccer feel like an amateur operation.

If I remember right there was also a little more grumbling after the friendlies WRT the grass feeling a little loose due to its new arrival…..but with a year of experience under their belt I think it’s likely that this season the Sounders FO finds the best mix between grass for international friendlies and FieldTurf for the MLS peons.

The biggest reason to use Turf at Qwest is for that reason. It’s the dual-use nature that makes it so hard to maintain since so much of the action in American football is on a comparably small part of the field.