Paul Brown Stadium received the green-carpet treatment Wednesday. Starting on the east sideline, bundles of Kentucky bluegrass sod were raised with a forklift and unfurled like huge rolls of a living, green shag carpet.

        Each 4-foot-wide strip overlapped the last one, then the ends of each were cut with a power saw for a perfect fit. Men with rakes shimmied the strips back and forth, ensuring each strip snuggled up to the last.

        The field, shipped in by refrigerated truck from New Jersey on Wednesday morning, replaces last year's temporary Bermuda that was in tatters by season's end.

        Doug Bradley, head groundskeeper, called last year's field a “kitty box,” because large portions were stripped away the last two games of the season, leaving just sand underneath.

        The new field won't cost taxpayers, because S.W. Franks, of Cleveland, couldn't deliver the blue grass field last year after a drought killed it. The company agreed to install the temporary field, then replace it.

        “Long-term, you'll have as good a field as anyone in the country,” Bradley said. “It will be two or three years before it is the perfect field you all would like.” A Bermuda turf was picked for the temporary field because it grows well in hot weather. The thought was that the field would be well established by fall, then the underground heating system would keep it alive all season.

        But a cool summer never allowed the field to root, and it didn't recover from the beating 300-pound linemen gave it during the season.

        This year, Bradley will face the same problem in reverse.

        Bluegrass grows well in cool weather, but not so well in warm. The field should be established by late fall, though.

        Stadium managing director Eric Brown (no relation to Bengals president Mike Brown) said it's difficult to say how much the new turf cost to grow and install. The $3 million S.W. Franks contract included installation of the field's irrigation and heating systems, along with the turf.

Long-awaited bluegrass has arrived

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