By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Frustrated by failures in maintaining the natural grass field at Paul Brown Stadium, the Bengals will install a new artificial-turf playing field for the 2004 season.

Despite a $1.4 million heating system under the field to extend the growing season, several replacements of the sod and loving care from groundskeepers, the field has been criticized as one of the worst in the National Football League since the stadium opened in 2000.

"While there have been many successes (at the stadium), there have also been some areas we wish had gone better," Troy Blackburn, Bengals director of business development, said in a statement. "Probably the most visible struggle - despite everyone's best efforts - has been the ongoing issue involved with maintaining the stadium field."

The Bengals have not yet decided on the specific brand they will install, but the team has started researching various products. The brand most commonly used is FieldTurf.

The artificial surface, characterized by longer blades of plastic grass - up to 3-4 inches - is generically called synthetic in-fill. It is more popular with players than the traditional, harder AstroTurf brand.

In a letter to Hamilton County Administrator David Krings, the team listed several reasons for putting in the new surface. They include:

• Eliminating the need for regular resodding of parts or all of the existing field.

• Reducing expenses for outside users to rent the stadium.

• Dropping the county's annual field maintenance costs by more than $100,000.

The condition of the natural grass field has been an issue in the taxpayer-funded stadium since it opened.

Running back Corey Dillon is among a number of Bengals players who criticized the grass field and called for the team to replace it with a long-blade synthetic grass.

Dillon blamed the field's loose footing for the groin strain he suffered in the Steelers game on Sept. 21. Surveys of NFL players by the NFL Players Association - the players' union - identified the Paul Brown Stadium grass as one of the worst playing fields in the league.

The Bengals are paying for the new field, but would not release cost estimates, a spokesman said. Similar fields cost anywhere between $600,000 and $1 million.

A clause in the stadium lease, which holds Hamilton County responsible for updating technology to keep the stadium in line with other NFL facilities, would allow the Bengals to pass the playing field cost along to taxpayers.

Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune, a long-time proponent of artificial turf at the stadium, welcomed the news.

"It couldn't come a day too soon in my book," Portune said Tuesday. "It will open up all sorts of new public uses for the stadium."

Portune said additional events could include concerts, professional soccer and other football games. He would like to see the county bid on Ohio high school state playoff and championship games.

The Bengals played three games on synthetic in-fill surfaces in last year's season and preseason and Coach Marvin Lewis said the players liked it.

"They've been very pleased with the consistency of the surface," Lewis said.

The Bengals would be the 10th NFL team to move to the synthetic in-fill playing field. Three teams - Seattle, Dallas and Detroit - played on it beginning in 2002. And five stadiums - Atlanta, New Orleans, Baltimore, Buffalo and the Meadowlands (Giants Stadium) - had the new-age field installed in 2003. The New York Jets and Giants both play on the surface in Giants Stadium.

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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