Ole Miss revamps football stadium with NorthBridge Bermudagrass

The University of Mississippi‘s football stadium transformed in May 2023 from its longstanding 419 Bermudagrass to NorthBridge Bermudagrass. Brian McNeil, assistant director of sports turf, explained the revenue from hosting a recent Morgan Wallen concert made it possible to resod Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the first time in years.

Over the summer, McNeil worked to develop cultural practices on the field to make it perfect in time for the 2023 football season. At first, he didn’t realize how aggressive he would have to get with the grass.

“You have to verticut every 10–14 days. It is aggressive, and it recovers very well, and that’s probably the thing I like the most,” he said. “It’s a much tighter grass, stands straight up and doesn’t tend to lay over as much as 419.”

The university is also in the process of rebuilding its softball stadium. Although the team will play in an unfinished stadium for the 2024 season, they are getting a new playing surface in time for play in February. McNeil said they went with NorthBridge from Precision Turf for the softball field as well.

Earlier this fall, McNeil said their fields saw temperatures in the 20s, but it warmed up to the 80s shortly after, so the NorthBridge responded to fertilizer and kept growing. They overseeded with ryegrass earlier this fall in late September, due to their schedule break, so the seed had enough time to germinate between home games.

Looking ahead, McNeil envisions a campus where all fields boast this variety.

“In the next two years, we will renovate our baseball field,” McNeil said. “I hope within the next three or four years that every one of our fields will be NorthBridge.”