Carson Park artificial turf installation action shot.

The aesthetic of sport is what has always interested me first and foremost: the visuals, the colors, the sun, and lighting angles. This interest extends to the appearance of the field of play, and I find myself in perhaps a perfect isolation: the look of artificial turf is appealing to my eye.

You say: “Luc, you’ve never played on the stuff, and if you did, you sure wouldn’t like it.” You are likely correct, but since I’ve never played and never will, I can keep my oddball view of a sports spectator. My reasons have nothing to do with feel (old-fashioned turf was harder than grass and likely more injury inducing) or tradition (the game was “meant” to be played on grass). Enviro-lover that I am, I should take living, breathing grass over a plot of plastic without giving a second of thought.

Rather, the smooth, sharp look of artificial turf brought a modern feel to my eyes. Color is a matter of pure personal taste: I’ll take AstroTurf’s emerald green over earthy/grassy green any day. I even have a chunk of World Series-era Metrodome turf framed at home.

Injuries and cultural trends put artificial turf on a destination to extinction until a decade ago, when FieldTurf was introduced. Think of FieldTurf as “artificial grass,” with green blades and mock dirt instead of a pressed green carpet (or the green asphalt of Camp Randall in the 80s). The surface plays more like grass with greater durability in inclement weather.

FieldTurf first showed up in major U.S. sports at Nebraska in 1999, and the past decade has seen many stadiums – like Camp Randall and the Metrodome – adopt the surface. Teams that never played on AstroTurf have gone away from grass for the first time ever to go the FieldTurf route. This trend is now taking, er, root in western Wisconsin.

The mid-90s was the first time I knew of a local stadium considering artificial turf, when the city of Eau Claire tried every imaginable solution to the mud field that became of Carson Park when three high schools and a college were done with their seasons. The Rebound system of tire bits was fail. Nothing else worked. I recall reading that the city council considered artificial turf, but was not ready to take that step, and understandably so – cost and safety issues were likely factors. This was the pre-FieldTurf era.

Then came Don and Nona Williams Stadium to Menomonie in 2001, and their AstroTurf 2000 field. For us Chippewa Valley folks, this expanse of sharp, professional-looking green seemed otherworldly. We were entering the big leagues of stadia aesthetic. Sure, it was one of the last new fields in the country to go with AstroTurf, but this was still a milestone. Sports observers were wowed. By 2004, the FieldTurf option was available to smaller communities, and Carson Park finally went artificial.

The result? No mud or dirt by the end of October, a clean looking gridiron that looks veritably big-time, even alternating shades of green to give the appearance of mowing patterns. I have yet to find one person who would return to the “grass” of old.

Chi-Hi went for FieldTurf during the Dorais Field renovation in 2007, UW-Stout switched their AstroTurf for FieldTurf a year ago, and Rice Lake’s new stadium this fall features the same thing. The four highest-profile fields in western Wisconsin are all artificial, and they all look darn good. No turf-caused injuries, best as I can tell.

The fields of plastic across western Wisconsin show an elevation of sports in our part of the state. We see a large-market football aesthetic on Friday night highlights. This is progress – crisp, clean-looking progress that still echoes the look of grass and mitigates the likelihood of a torn ACL. The advancement of our football fields has brought the latest technology to our hometowns. Now, let’s a plant a few trees to offset the plastic, and we have a deal.