Most people associate artificial turf with sports fields.  The first artificial turf field in a professional sporting event was used out of necessity.  In 1965, the Astrodome opened in Houston, Texas.  Because the domed stadium did not allow enough light to reach the stadium’s grass floor, the grass quickly died.  Artificial turf, which became known as AstroTurf, was used as the playing surface for the field to remedy this problem.

AstroTurf quickly became popular as more domed stadiums were built.  It was also used in outdoor stadiums and fields as it saved on maintenance and irrigation costs.  However, AstroTurf had some significant drawbacks.  It was a hard surface that lead to many injuries.  The turf, which was typically placed on top of concrete, was thin and unforgiving. The surface was like playing on a thin, hard carpet as opposed to soft, natural grass.   Thus, when a player fell on the field to make a play or as part of the game, it lead to injuries too often and many players did not like playing on the surface.  Also, just playing on such a hard surface over time lead to more wear-and-tear on the knees, feet, and ankles. 

AstroTurf also changed how games were played as a ball rolled and bounced very differently on the turf than on natural grass.  In baseball, it had a dramatic effect on the game.  Since it was thin and hard, baseballs rolled more quickly on turf than on grass.  Players could hit the ball in places and get base hits where the ball hit in the same spot at the same speed on grass could be fielded by the player preventing a hit.  Infielders had to play farther back on the field so they had more time to react. 

Another drawback to AstroTurf was that it retained more heat than natural grass.  On hot days, the temperature on the field could be noticeably higher than on a natural surface.  When temperatures reached triple digits, playing on an AstroTurf surface could be dangerous.  Sometimes it would get so hot that metal spikes would burn to a player’s feet or plastic cleats would melt. 

In football, players could run faster on AstroTurf as the surface was like running on concrete instead of the cushion that grass provides.  This changed the game, as speed became more of a premium.  Also, the hard nature of the surface lead to more injuries, particularly knee and foot injuries.  AstroTurf did not have the give or natural slide that grass fields had to help cushion collisions.