Say a lacrosse player runs across a field and lunges into the air toward the goal. Was his foot in the crease before he jumped? Turf TV could tell you. With the click of a mouse, officials could illuminate the runner's footsteps all the way up the field.
The fibre-optic cables are not pressure-sensitive, Mr. Nicholls explains, but they can detect when light is being obscured -- when they are covered by a runner's foot, for example.
The system could then be directed to illuminate only the sensors that were obscured. The effect would be an illuminated walkway, showing every step of a runner's trajectory.
Of course, such cutting-edge technology doesn't come cheap. A full-sized football field made of Turf TV would cost about $1.7-million depending on the size, Mr. Nicholls says. That's eight times more than a field made of sod, and three times more than Sportexe's conventional turf fields.
Stadium owners might balk at the price tag, but Turf TV could theoretically pay for itself quickly through ad revenue, particularly for high-profile sports.
Not to mention the savings that municipalities could achieve if they didn't have to support multiple stadiums.
"Cities don't want to have to replicate the services for, say, a new soccer stadium when they've got a football stadium sitting empty more than 300 days a year. It just doesn't make any sense," Mr. Nicholls says.
Interactive fields also could enhance the experience for spectators by providing visual aids and secondary attractions on the field between plays.
"Right now professional sports is geared toward television audiences," Mr. Nicholls says.
"Teams struggle with how to keep people in the stands engaged so that when the camera comes back, they've got screaming fans ready to cheer. It's pretty hard when you say, 'Sit there for two minutes, we'll get back to you. Stare at each other.' " Gord Bullock is one stadium manager who sees potential in light-up turf. He's the game operations contractor for the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League. The Rock plays in the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on a more traditional Sportexe field known as DieterTurf. Before the centre installed DieterTurf, however, lines and ads had to be painted on the old artificial playing surface. After repeated paintings, the surface became hard and dangerous for athletes. The Sportexe product uses an inlay system where lines are installed right into the turf and Velcro-like ads can easily be attached or replaced.
"It's performed very well for us," Mr. Bullock says.
But that's not to say he wouldn't be interested in upgrading to a fibre-optic system some day.
"The people on the research and development side in the industry are doing some amazing work, and I'm sure it will happen," Mr. Bullock says.
In his opinion, the ability to seamlessly convert fields, as well as add new sources of income, would be invaluable.
"Anyone involved in sports would tell you this is a fantastic thing to have."
Anyone involved in marketing would probably agree.
How it works
- The blades of "grass" are the ends of fibre-optic cables, which emit light coming from a grid, laid under the base, that possesses its own light-processing circuitry. Sort of like a computer screen underground.
That image is then projected up through the blades, in a display that can be viewed from above. The green blades of grass are simply the shafts of the fibre-optic cables, blended with the same polyethylene that's used in conventional turf systems.
-The infill is a mix of rubber and sand to provide a solid base for athletes to play on.
-The same drainage and stability layering system used with current artificial turf.
-Optical fibres connect to form a grid.
SOURCE: FORBES
