Home field conditions; another question mark for the Tar Heels.
If you have been to a UNC Baseball game recently or driven along Ridge Road, you have seen the renovation project across from Boshamer Stadium that looks more like a war zone than a multi-million face lift for Fetzer Field and the new football practice facilities.
During the 18-month project, UNC home soccer games will be played at Duke and Wake Med Soccer Park as field hockey moves to a new field behind Ehringhaus. So where will the football team practice as the 2017 season is only five weeks away?
Well, it will be inside Kenan Stadium, which leaves Carolina with a decision to make about the playing field. After practicing every day of the week, what kind of shape will Kenan be in for the next home game? UNC Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham had to choose between two solutions, neither of them perfect.
At first, Cunningham was going to replace the natural grass at Kenan with an artificial turf surface for one season, but the cost was prohibitive. The price to re-sod the field for all seven home games was more reasonable, but it comes with the risk of the new sod not settling properly especially if it rains on Friday or Friday night. That would prove hazardous for both teams on game day.
UNC will try to preserve the playing field as much as possible, but practices will take a toll on the surface. If it has to be replaced before the next home game, Cunningham says there is new “thick sod” on the market that has worked well at other venues. He hopes it will also work at Kenan.
So, as Larry Fedora welcomes his new squad for training camp next week, another question arises besides replacing Mitch Trubisky, three running backs and three receivers. It is the field on which those new positions will be won by inexperienced players and on which the Tar Heels will try to beat Cal, Louisville, Duke, Miami, Notre Dame, Virginia and Western Carolina to secure a fifth straight bowl bid.
(Photo: UNC Athletics)
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