A tractor is used to unroll the turf. Crew members grab the turf as it is unrolled to insure it stays straight. The first roll was unrolled and a considerable amount of time was taken to insure it was straight. The out of bounds line at the north end of the end zone is barely visible (white) and it must be perfectly straight and lined up.
Once a 15 ft. section of carpet is unfurled, the edge of the previous one is shaved with a special shaver to prepare it for sewing.
The next step in the installation is the actual sewing of the seams of two 15-foot widths of turf. One section is laid upside down on top of another and, after the edge is shaved, they sew the seam with a special stitching machine. Notice the slogan on the back of their T-shirts: "We Sew Dreams."
Once the seams of adjoining sections of turf are sewn, the next step is to pull the turf over to its right side. Special "tongs" are made and used that will grab the turf without tearing into it. The crew grab on and the crew chief yells for everyone to "keep up" so it is a smoother process.
Note the white line to the left of the top photo on the turf. Part of the design of the field includes the "NFL Style" stripe surrounding the entire field. This is the stripe at the end of the north end zone. In this first photo, the crew is hooking on and getting ready to pull.



Comments