The New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium will replcae the current natural grass field with FieldTurf in tame for the next home game against the Chicago Bears.

Gillette Stadium is the ninth NFL stadium to install FieldTurf, joining Atlanta’s Georgia Dome, Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium, Detroit’s Ford Field, Indianapolis’ RCA Dome, Minnesota’s Metrodome, New Jersey’s Giants Stadium, St. Louis’ Edward Jones Dome and Seattle’s Qwest Field. Overall, 21 of the NFL’s 32 teams now utilize FieldTurf at their stadium and/or their practice facility. Gillette Stadium’s mid-season conversion from grass to artificial turf is unprecedented in the history of the National Football League.

“Everyone associated with FieldTurf is delighted that the Patriots have selected FieldTurf for this installation,” said Gilman. “We are obviously very gratified by the tremendous confidence in our product that is being displayed by the Kraft family, Coach (Bill) Belichick and the entire Patriots’ organization. We are absolutely dedicated to providing the Patriots with the finest playing surface available in the world today. There is a good reason why FieldTurf is the runaway world leader in synthetic grass playing fields, and we very much look forward to providing a surface that will serve the Patriots players, coaches and fans well.”

“John Gilman and his staff have created a great product with FieldTurf,” said Kraft. “And John has convinced us that this will not only be the best long-term field solution for Gillette Stadium and the New England Patriots, but he also assures us that it will be one of the best playing surfaces in the NFL. Unfortunately, that was a goal that we were unable to accomplish with our natural grass playing surface, despite the tremendous amount of resources we invested in the construction, installation and maintenance of that field over the past five years. We look forward to installing a field that will provide a consistent playing surface year-round.”

Gillette Stadium has featured a natural grass playing surface since it opened for the 2002 season. The stadium is the home of both the Patriots and the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer (MLS). In addition, Gillette hosts a variety of other special events, including concerts. As a multi-use facility in a cold-weather climate, concerns had recently arisen with regards to the ability to keep the grass in a pristine and playable condition. The installation of FieldTurf will eliminate those concerns, and will give Gillette an outstanding and a consistent playing surface. The Patriots already have FieldTurf in the Dana-Farber Fieldhouse, the team’s indoor practice facility adjacent to the stadium.