Kenan Stadium Returning to Natural Grass Playing Surface For 2025 Season

New UNC football head coach Bill Belichick is already installing sweeping changes in Chapel Hill.

On Monday afternoon, the football program announced Kenan Stadium would be returning to a natural grass playing surface for the 2025 season and beyond.

“With our current turf reaching the end of its lifespan, the timing made sense to return Kenan Stadium to its natural grass roots,” said UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham. “Our staff takes great pride in maintaining a top-tier field that reflects the excellence of UNC Football, and we look forward to cheering on the team as it competes on a world-class natural grass surface next season.”

For most of its nearly 100 years of existence, Kenan Stadium’s playing surface has been natural grass. However, the stadium switched to artificial turf beginning in the 2019 season and kept the surface through the end of the 2024 season, mirroring the tenure of head coach Mack Brown. The new grass surface will retain a synthetic turf perimeter, which coexisted with Kenan’s grass surface for the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

“The decision to convert back to grass was made in consultation with new Carolina Head Football Coach Bill Belichick – with the best experience for the program in mind,” read a release from the school.

A grass playing surface has made sporadic reappearances at Kenan Stadium since 2019, notably returning for two exhibition soccer games played in the summers of 2023 and 2024.

According to the school, the Indian Trail-based contractor Carolina Green will install 67,000 square feet of GameOnGrass Tahoma Sod, surrounded by a 36,000-square foot turf perimeter. The irrigation system will be similar to those at other UNC athletics fields and will use reclaimed water. The school estimates the project, which is being funded by The Rams Club, to last 12 weeks.

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati

Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.

‹

UNC Football Sells Out of Season Tickets for 2021

The anticipation around UNC football’s upcoming season continues to build and the program announced another indication of this on Monday. Season tickets for football at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill are sold out, according to a release from the athletics department. It is the second time since head coach Mack Brown returned to the program […]

Kenan Stadium to Add Individual Chairback Seats Throughout Entire Facility

UNC football fans will be pleased to learn that the school is renovating Kenan Stadium in order to replace the facility’s bleachers with individual chairback seats–helping to make the game-viewing experience much more comfortable than it’s ever been in the past. The seats–which are 22 inches wide and have arm rests–were installed in Sections 110 […]

UNC Implementing Clear Bag Policy at Kenan Stadium

Beginning with this week’s home football game against Louisville, UNC will be implementing a clear bag policy at Kenan Stadium. The change is aimed at reducing wait times to get into the stadium, as well as increasing security measures. UNC suggests that fans leave bags at home if possible, but will still allow certain items […]

Tar Heels to Fans: Where Are You?

UNC junior wide receiver Bug Howard tweeted on Tuesday what many Tar Heel fans in attendance were wondering during last Saturday’s game against Illinois. Where is everybody? Despite Kenan Stadium’s capacity of 63,000, the announced crowd of 41,000 was UNC’s lowest since 2012, when 32,000 fans showed up in the pouring rain to watch a game […]

Tributes Pour In After James Spurling, Director of Kenan Stadium, Dies at 68

James Spurling, who served as the Director of Kenan Stadium and the Kenan Football Center in the heart of the UNC campus since 2006 and had been a Chapel Hill staple for many years prior, died Thursday. He was 68 years old. Tributes flooded in from across the Chapel Hill and UNC sports communities following […]

Art’s Angle: Another Classic

In the last home game, UNC football showed how much they improved over the season. They just fell short in a classic rivalry game.

Art’s Angle: Small Ball Is Over

Bill Belichick's UNC football team is showing progress. But the Tar Heels now resume facing big boy football for the rest of the year.

ESPN to Broadcast Live Pregame Show from Kenan Stadium Ahead of UNC vs. TCU Game

ESPN will broadcast a special one-hour edition of its “College Football Countdown” show at Kenan Stadium before UNC hosts TCU the night of September 1. The broadcast will air live at 7 p.m. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. 📍Kenan Stadium 🗓️Labor Day College Football Countdown is coming to Chapel Hill Week 1! 🔗: https://t.co/EGOJ0Iffbe […]

Chansky's Notebook: Turf Talk

No matter how the grass grows on the new Kenan Stadium carpet, it is up to the team that takes the field to get butts in seats.

Kenan Stadium Returning to Natural Grass Playing Surface For 2025 Season

New UNC football head coach Bill Belichick is already installing sweeping changes in Chapel Hill. On Monday afternoon, the football program announced Kenan Stadium would be returning to a natural grass playing surface for the 2025 season and beyond. It’s natural. Kenan will be back to grass in 2025. https://t.co/Dy8ouQ4Qhm — Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) January […]

›