West Coast Turf provides its eighth Super Bowl field

West Coast Turf, a natural turfgrass sod grower and installer, is providing the turf for Super Bowl 50, marking its eighth field used for the NFL’s biggest event.

West Coast Turf’s blend of hybrid bermudagrass and ryegrass turfgrass sod was grown at its Livingston, Calif., facility. The 75,000-square-foot sod will be shipped just 117 miles to Santa Clara’s Levi’s Stadium, the venue for Super Bowl 50, before being installed by West Coast Turf and NFL personnel. Installation is expected to take two days, and began on Jan. 11, according to the company’s Facebook page.

This specially-grown natural turf has been cared for at the company’s farm for more than eighteen months. This new process involves an intricate “layering technique,” allowing it to develop an extensive root system, and is a vast improvement over traditional sod, the company says.

“In the past, conventional sod was good enough, because it just had to hold up for the game. Now, that isn’t enough,” says John Marman, West Coast Turf’s vice president of sales and marketing. “The sod needs to be prepared to handle the game and Super Bowl pregame and halftime shows. The stage they use for the halftime show takes about 500 people to roll on and off the field. We can’t have ruts. That results in a safer field, and player safety is paramount. It is an exceptionally heavy-duty product.

“We have treated this field with a lot of T.L.C. for a long time — it has its own blankets, rain tarps, special diet — you name it, we’ve done it. This turfgrass has been designed and developed for an event as significant as the Super Bowl, and the events leading up to it. We believe that this type of product will become more prevalent in today’s stadium facilities which handle multiple in season entertainment events requiring a more resilient surface with a quicker turnaround. This turf can take the wear and tear.”

West Coast Turf has supplied the NFL with seven other Super Bowl fields from California to Florida, including Super Bowls XXVII, XXIX, XXX, XXXII, XXXVII, XXXVIII, and XXXIX. This is the first time the sod will be harvested from West Coast Turf’s local northern California Livingston farm.

West Coast Turf is a full-service sod, stolonization and hydroseeding company with five offices throughout California and Arizona, and headquarters in Palm Desert, Calif. West Coast Turf grows more than 30 varieties of natural turf.

Clients of West Coast Turf include:

NFL	MLB	MLS	Others
San Diego Chargers	San Diego Padres	San Jose Earthquakes	The Rose Bowl
San Francisco 49ers	Arizona Diamondbacks	LA Galaxy	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Oakland Raiders	Los Angeles Dodgers		Sun Devil Stadium
8 Super Bowls	Anaheim Angels		Stanford Stadium
	Oakland A’s
	San Francisco Giants

 
Sod by the Numbers: Take a deeper look at the numbers behind the making of the field grown for Super Bowl 50.