Pitch perfect: Developing natural grass for the World Cup
FIFA rules state that World Cup matches must be played on natural grass. For this year's tournament, scientifically-engineered sod (that can withstand playing conditions and differing climates) was deployed in stadiums with artificial turf.
This year's World Cup has been smashing viewership records. Hosting the tournament has prompted Americans to tune in and turn out for soccer like never before. The telecast for this afternoon's final match, between Spain and Argentina , is expected to set another record.
But for one man in Tennessee, this whole tournament has been about as exciting as watching grass grow … which, for him, is high praise.
"The number one thing is the pitches, right? We need to have a good surface, a good canvas for the players to play on," said Dr. John Sorochan, a distinguished professor in Turfgrass Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He's a world-renowned leader in the field of fields .
"You look at the last men's World Cup, 1.8 billion people watched the final; that's 20 percent of the world watched that," he said. "And they enjoyed it. And they didn't even think of the field, sadly. But there's so much that went into it, right?"
For the past five years, the University of Tennessee, in collaboration with Michigan State University, has been working on the FIFA Pitch Research Project. [Pitch is the more globally-used term for field.]
This year's World Cup, with 104 matches, held in 16 stadiums across three countries, is the largest in history. And all of those matches, per FIFA's mandate, must be played on high-quality natural grass.