Baltimore's sod squad gets M&T Bank Stadium ready for AFC Championship Game
BALTIMORE -- From the 70,000 fans in the stands to the tens of millions who will view from afar, the AFC Championship Game between the Ravens and Chiefs will likely be the most-watched game ever played in Baltimore.
Everything has to look great, including the field.
WJZ Sports Director Mark Viviano went behind the scenes to see how the turf is holding up under difficult circumstances.
What looks like a football field to most of us is an ongoing science project to the turf pros at M&T Bank Stadium.
WJZ first spoke with head groundskeeper Sean Kauffman before the season opener in the summer heat of September.
Since then, the playing surface has been ripped out twice and replanted with a fresh field of Bermuda Grass trucked in from North Carolina.
The field has gone from summer to winter, through scorching heat, freezing temperatures and, most recently, rain, lots of rain.
The field-side fans work like giant hairdryers. This aims to help the newest grass get a good chance to stand strong for Sunday's AFC Championship Game.
"You just don't know how the grass is going to react to the conditions, to the players, to the traffic, and so every situation is going to be a little bit different," Kauffman said. "But I think not only our crew but the crew in North Carolina that grows the sod and installs the sod, they're very well versed in what to do and how to do it and make it as good as we can possibly make it."
Ravens kicker Justin Tucker depends on a reliable surface from which to launch his kicks. He gives the grounds crew at his home stadium high marks for in-season adjustments to changing weather.
"Anytime you have that to deal with, and the surface still holds up throughout the course of a game, it's not going to be perfect, but it's manageable, and it's much more manageable than a lot of other places that we have played," Tucker said.
The kicker is a stickler, and Tucker says the sod squad in Baltimore gets it right where others often get it wrong.
"For some reason, they can't figure it out," Tucker said. "Our guys have certainly done that. They have figured it out and they've done a great job with the surface, and I'm looking forward to getting back out there and testing it out again pregame and hopefully having a great game on it again."
Kauffman said he is concerned about the athletes having the best surface possible for the game.
"We want to make sure they can do what they need to do in order to perform at the highest level, and that's all that my concern is," he said. "I'm not concerned about if the field starts to look beat up or a little worn by the end of the game—as long as the players can do what they need to do and stay healthy. That's my biggest concern."