Welcome to AstroTurf
Since 1965, the AstroTurf brand has been driven by forward thinking ingenuity. Today AstroTurf continuously improves its system design to deliver playing surfaces with the most realistic, sport-specific performance, longest lasting durability, and sound player protection.
Welcome to the Second Half of the AstroTurf Century!
Latest News
Maryland Field Hockey Trusts AstroTurf Once Again
College Park, MD – The Maryland Terrapins are about as close to field hockey royalty as you can get and AstroTurf is just about as legendary as a brand can be, so their long, successful partnership seems to be a natural fit. Maryland has once again chosen AstroTurf,...
Through the Leagues
Walter Payton and Earl Campbell at Soldier Field in Chicago
The Alliance of American football will launch on Sunday, February 9th and it has caused us to reflect on the many years of football in North America and our place in that history. As we look back at the many football leagues that have been organized over the last 50 years, there are two constants: Americans love of football and AstroTurf has always been a part of it. AstroTurf, the inventor of synthetic turf, will once again be at center stage as 8 new football organizations begin play in the Alliance of American Football.
Of course, the NFL is the granddaddy of them all and AstroTurf has been the surface that so much of the rich history of seasons, playoffs, and Super Bowls have played out. The hunger for the game has created a market for many upstart leagues throughout the years and has also left us with many several cult classic teams and logos. But for many, these teams are more than just a cool retro T-shirt, they hold fond memories for towns that either didn’t have an NFL franchise or just needed a football team to hold them over until autumn rolled back around.
The Birmingham Americans vs. The Florida Blazers at Legion Field
The World Football League was one such league that was short-lived but inspired many more attempts to create football organizations in the years to come. It only spanned 1974 and 1975 but AstroTurf was there at such venues as Soldier Field in Chicago, Legion Field in Birmingham, Aloha Stadium in Honolulu and others.
The eighties saw the birth of the USFL and what seemed to be a big threat to the juggernaut that the NFL had created. A lot of marquee players got their start in this league and there was some pretty competition on the field. AstroTurf was there for a lot of those games as well.
Hershel Walker over the top in the USFL
The Arena Football League was born out of the desire to give fans a faster game and one that was more intimate for those attending. AstroTurf’s systems were just the ticket for the fast paced indoor game. Not to be outdone the XFL offered fans the excitement of football with alternative rules and lots of showmanship. It only lasted a year but is scheduled for a major comeback in 2020.
AstroTurf has also been part of the Canadian Football League over several decades. The league, formed in 1958, has had some of its most historic moments on our turf with legendary teams such as the Edmonton Eskimos, Calgary Stampeders and the Montreal Alouettes. We have always loved Canadian Football because they allow bigger fields!
The Liberty Bowl – Memphis, TN
We don’t know what the future holds for The Alliance of American Football but we hope it will be a prosperous one. We do know that we will be a part of it as games are played at the Alamodome in San Antonio and the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. We also know that as leagues are formed, games are played, and football teams look for predictable, safe, and high quality playing surfaces, AstroTurf will be there.
Elkhorn Area School District Turning Heads With New AstroTurf
Elkhorn, WI – In an impressive display of planning, vision, and design, the Elkhorn Area School District as part of a referendum project, redeveloped their entire athletic facility including an indoor training center, tennis courts, new running track, stadium field and two new softball fields. The school chose AstroTurf to cover the four fields with premium synthetic turf systems. The Elkhorn athletic campus has positioned themselves as a successful model for high schools looking to make significant athletic facility improvements.
Elkhorn leaned heavy on feedback from the community about the fields and the referendum vote included a stipulation to not use SBR rubber in the stadium and indoor facility fields. These are actually the first field in Wisconsin to use natural infill for its synthetic turf field. Elkhorn is also one of only a few schools in Wisconsin that have an indoor training field.
“I would say that the new AstroTurf fields have allowed us far greater opportunities to practice and play than what we have had in the past. We are able to structure our practices with certainty that we are going to be able to have a safe surface to play on. It has also allowed our community youth groups to have greater opportunities to practice,” said Elkhorn Athletic Director Daniel Kiel.
The fields themselves are top of the line. For the indoor and stadium fields, Elkhorn installed an AstroTurf DT-32 system over a Brock Powerbase shock pad. The softball fields now have infields made of the AstroTurf RootZone Diamond-I RBI turf system. These systems are perfect for the durability and performance that will be required by the Elkhorn athletes and the heavy use that these fields will get throughout the year.
“Our new AstroTurf fields have meant a lot to our sports programs. I play baseball and football and both sports have been positively impacted by these new fields. For football, the new indoor field gave us a greater advantage over any other school because if the weather got bad we could just go right inside and continue doing what we were doing. Before, we would have to find gym space and could only walk through things because of the surface,” said an Elkhorn High School athlete. “As for the baseball program, it has really helped our off season program in an extreme way. We are now able to simulate real hops and not ones that a gym floor would give us. We are now able to hit and throw after school as we are not having to fight for gym space during the winter months. The new AstroTurf fields have really brought a lot of attention to Elkhorn sports and are helping almost every one of our sports teams!” 
The overall project was completed in phases throughout 2018. The indoor facility was ready for play in June, the stadium field was available for August, and the softball fields will see their first action this spring. There is no doubt that Wisconsin high schools are taking notice that the Elkhorn Area School District has just raised the bar for high school athletic campuses.
About AstroTurf:
For athletes and sport enthusiasts, AstroTurf® has redefined the way the game is played. The brand offers advanced, state-of-the-art, multi-sport and specialized synthetic turf systems with proprietary engineered technologies. A growing number of high schools, colleges, professional sports teams and municipalities continue to select AstroTurf-branded products for their premium quality, technical superiority, and safety. To learn more, visit AstroTurf’s website at www.astroturf.com.
New Wonder-Fiber, Trionic, Now Comes Standard in All AstroTurf Premium Monofilament Fibers
Dalton, GA – Over the decades, AstroTurf has prided itself on being the leader of innovation in the synthetic turf industry, and in 2018 AstroTurf did it again with a breakthrough in fiber technology. Throughout the history of the synthetic turf industry, the great quest of manufactures has been to blend polyethylene (PE) and nylon into a single fiber. That dream became a reality with the development of the Trionic fiber.
From the industry’s earliest inception until the 1990s, nylon was used nearly across the board for its superior resilience and strength. The downside of all-nylon fibers was well known. It was abrasive. In the 1990s, polyethylene came into vogue and became the industry standard for tall pile face fibers. The PE fibers were much less abrasive, but they sacrificed the strength that previous generations of turf fields offered. But all of this in the past as AstroTurf has reinvented PE – making it better, stronger, TRIONIC.
After a full year of being on the market, it became clear that the Trionic fiber is the future of the synthetic turf industry. AstroTurf has responded by making Trionic the standard monofilament fiber in all its premium infilled systems, including the legendary RootZone Series and Diamond Series for baseball. There are so many technological features with this fiber that the explanation goes all the way down to the molecular level. It contains entanglement technology that helps to reinforce weak spots and helps prevent the fiber from splitting. It also incorporates Sharkskin technology that reduces the contacts points on the fiber which results in less friction on the skin. All of this comes together to make a more durable field that is player-friendly.
2018 Trionic installations began with such places as Bill Snyder Family Stadium at Kansas State University, and at national high school power De La Salle and continued all across the country receiving high praise. “I am extremely happy that Lock Haven University made the decision to replace our old playing surface with one of the safest products in the industry — AstroTurf,” said Dr. Tom Gioglio, Lock Haven Director of Athletics. “The AstroTurf life cycle cost was reasonably priced for being a state of the art product that utilizes Trionic fiber.”
“We are tremendously proud to once again lead the way in new technological advancements that continue to shape the industry,” said AstroTurf Executive VP of Business Development, Rich Jordan. “We truly believe that the Trionic fiber offers the best possible field performance and wear resistance and will soon be the standard by which all other fibers are measured.”
The Trionic fiber has been extensively tested and it delivers a massive improvement in resistance to wear. Accelerated wear tests show that Trionic performs as well at 150,000 cycles as even AstroTurf’s own High Micron monofilament fibers at 100,000 cycles. Polyethylene fibers, regardless of how they are made, or how they may be combined, do not compare to the strength, resilience and durability of a molecularly fused Nylon and Polyethylene fiber. That is why we confidently say… Better, Stronger, TRIONIC.
About AstroTurf®
For athletes and sport enthusiasts, AstroTurf® has redefined the way the game is played. The brand offers advanced, state-of-the-art, multi-sport and specialized synthetic turf systems with proprietary engineered technologies. A growing number of high schools, colleges, professional sports teams and municipalities continue to select AstroTurf-branded products for their premium quality, technical superiority, and safety. To learn more, visit AstroTurf’s website at www.astroturf.com
