Boise State’s blue turf replacement is moving along. Check out the progress
The long-anticipated replacement of Boise State football’s blue turf got rolling on Monday morning, as an operations team and heavy machinery got to work on tearing up strips of field that have been witness to some iconic moments in recent years.
Preparations for the removal began early last week, and Boise State aims to finish the multistep removal process by July 17, putting the project on time to finish ahead of the two 2026 Banana Ball World Tour games on July 31 and Aug. 1.
The early removal process revealed some typically unseen features of what goes into a football field.
Associate Athletic Director Nathan Burk outlined some of those key elements, such as a rock pad with a styrofoam layer placed on top, both of which sit beneath the turf.
“Player safety is paramount,” Burk said. “(The foam layer) is proven to help with concussion mitigation and player safety as far as head injuries go.”
The new turf will also extend farther toward the bleachers, Burk said. Previously, there was about a 2-inch dropoff on either sideline behind the benches, which posed a risk of a twisted ankle if a player ran too far out of bounds. The extended turf is designed to reduce the risk of players suffering injuries from any type of misstep.
Huge white bags filled with sand were also stacked next to the field on Monday. Burk said the new field will have an approximate 70%-30% sand-to-rubber mix on top of the turf.
“We took notes from Ohio State, and talked to their fields and grounds crew, and we’ve taken notes from other people as we investigated this process,” Burk said. “And what we found is that having a little bit of a firmer field is better than a little bit of a softer field. It helps prevent things like soft tissue injuries.”
It’s not just changes to the field that are happening at Albertsons Stadium, either.
A brand-new ribbon board has been put up along the entire west side of the stadium, as well as the new North End Zone, the concourse of which will be open to the public for the first time on Tuesday as part of the school’s Pac-12 launch party. A new ribbon board will also go up along the east side of the stadium.
“You used to walk out here, and it kind of felt unfinished,” Burk said. “And you walk out here now and you say, man, this is really starting to feel like a big-time stadium.”
The new turf will have new features, as well as all of the proper nods to the university’s move to the revived Pac-12 Conference.
