As you’ve probably heard by now, the turf at CenturyLink Field is not the best. There have been countless times the Sounders have had to play second fiddle to the Seahawks, having to play important playoff games with football lines all other the field. Last summer, Amazon (whose HQ is in Seattle) held a company picnic/Quidditch tournament (yes, you read that right) the day before a nationally televised match against Houston. Where the league is at now, especially in Seattle, things like that shouldn’t be happening. But, we can forgive that a bit, because that’s just an optics issue. The field looks back, but generally those things have had very little affect on the gameplay — anymore than the bad CenturyLink turf already does.
This is an interesting week in Seattle, particularly because there are quite a few events taking place at CenturyLink. Not only do the Sounders play at home against Colorado, but Manchester United take on Club America in the prestigious International Champion$ Cup (or ICC for short). No big deal, right? After all, one of the few benefits turf offers a venue is the ability for low maintenance and quick turf around. But, news broke this week that Sod has been laid down over the field turf. Now, in a vacuum, that’s not such a terrible idea, but in reality, it’s very awful. Sod is rarely handled with the care necessary to make it a worthwhile pitch (that noise you hear is Conor Casey’s Achilles ripping to shreds, again). So, not only are there going to be two soccer matches on the same field within 24 hours, but something else happened this week. A One Direction concert.
Grass. We’ve got grass!!!! pic.twitter.com/ytEhlLGmUK
— SSFCFOTY14 (@JulieBukingham) July 16, 2015
@mkstnr yep. Looks compressed in the exposed areas already. pic.twitter.com/haNGYg8pCl
— SSFCFOTY14 (@JulieBukingham) July 16, 2015
A cynical person would say having the stage set up directly on the grass less than 48 hours before a match is bad…. pic.twitter.com/AqViwcQWAJ
— SSFCFOTY14 (@JulieBukingham) July 16, 2015
This does not bode well, at all. I’m not a grass expert, but having 100s of tons of equipment, along with every teenage girl in the Puget Sound area on top of dead grass doesn’t sound like the best way to prepare the field for two soccer games. Who knows, it might end up being a nonissue, but again, here’s an instance where the Sounders are not a priority. We’ll keep you updated as more develops.
