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This is a list of college football venues with non-traditional field colors. Traditionally, college football is played on grass fields. As technology advanced, the use of various kinds of artificial turf as a playing surface became more and more popular. With the artificial turf came the ability to have field colors other than green. Although many programs that choose an artificial surface for games do keep a green surface, a few have chosen other colors.

It is common for the end zones to be painted a different color, but as of the 2015 season only seven programs have their field color other than the traditional green.[1] Six of the programs participate in the NCAA and one in the NAIA.[2]

Conference affiliations are accurate as of the 2018 college football season.

Stadium Team Location Division Conference Field color Year installed Capacity Notes
Albertsons Stadium Boise State Broncos Boise, Idaho NCAA Division I FBS Mountain West Conference Blue 1986 36,387 Nicknamed "The Blue" and "Smurf Turf". The first college stadium field to be any color other than traditional green, as well as the only college to have a non-green field for 22 years (1986–2008). In 2011, the Mountain West Conference banned Boise from wearing their all-blue uniforms during home conference games, after complaints from other Mountain West coaches that it was an unfair advantage.[3] The uniform restrictions were removed from 2013 forward as part of the deal that kept Boise State in that conference after it had initially planned to leave.[4] Boise State holds a trademark on any non-green field, not just blue;[5] the enforceability of such a vague trademark has been questioned.[6] It has licensed the right to use blue fields to several high schools as well as the University of New Haven,[7] and also issues free licenses to any school or team that uses a color other than blue or orange, Boise State's school colors.[5]
Brooks Stadium Coastal Carolina Chanticleers Conway, South Carolina NCAA Division I FBS Sun Belt Conference Teal 2015 21,000 Nicknamed "The Surf Turf"
Carlson Stadium Luther College Norse Decorah, Iowa NCAA Division III American Rivers Conference Blue 2017[8] 5,000 First non-green field in NCAA Division III
Drake Field SUNY Morrisville Mustangs Morrisville, New York NCAA Division III Empire 8 Black 2023[9] 1,500
Estes Stadium Central Arkansas Bears Conway, Arkansas NCAA Division I FCS Southland Conference Purple and gray alternating every five yards 2011[10] 10,000 Referred to as playing on “The Stripes”
Lindenwood Stadium Lindenwood Lynx Belleville, Illinois NAIA Mid-States Football Association Red and gray alternating every five yards 2012 Unknown Has been called "the nation's most original (hideous) football field".[11]
Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium New Haven Chargers West Haven, Connecticut NCAA Division II Northeast-10 Conference Blue 2009[12] 5,000 New Haven and Boise State reached an agreement in 2009 to license the use of Boise State's trademark blue field. New Haven calls their field a "blue and yellow" field as part of the agreement.[7]
Roos Field Eastern Washington Eagles Cheney, Washington NCAA Division I FCS Big Sky Conference Red 2010[13] 8,700 Nicknamed "The Inferno".
Rynearson Stadium Eastern Michigan Eagles Ypsilanti, Michigan NCAA Division I FBS Mid-American Conference Gray 2014[1] 30,200 Nicknamed "The Factory" by head coach Chris Creighton in honor of the area's 100+ years of automotive history .[14]
Tomahawks Field Hosei Orange Tokyo, Japan Japan American Football Association Kantoh Collegiate American Football Association Blue 2012 0 Granted special permission and an international trademark from Boise State to use blue turf.[15][16]

Other levels of play with non-traditional colors

Other programs outside of college football have non-traditional colors. Lincoln College Preparatory Academy in Kansas City, Missouri has blue turf with yellow sidelines surrounded by a red track. Barrow High School in Barrow, Alaska also has a blue turf, as do high schools in Hidalgo, Texas; Santee, California; Lovington, New Mexico;[17] Ravenna, Ohio; Colonia, New Jersey; Oxford, Michigan; and Spotsylvania, Virginia.[18] West Salem High School in Salem, Oregon has a black field.[19] St. Mary's Preparatory in Orchard Lake Village, Michigan has red turf, as does Edgewood High School (Indiana) in Ellettsville, Indiana.[20] Trona High School in Trona, San Bernardino County, California has an all-dirt field, the only one in the United States outside of Alaska.[21] Belle Vernon Area School District uses a gold turf with black accents.[22] Tenino High School has a black turf football field.[23] Moore Catholic High School in Staten Island, New York unveiled its red turf field in 2021.[24]

The Nebraska Danger of the Indoor Football League also play on a black field, while the Trenton Freedom of the Professional Indoor Football League began play in 2014 on a red field. From 2014 to 2016, the L.A. KISS of the Arena Football League played on a silver field. Two teams currently in the National Arena League use non-traditional field colors. The Lehigh Valley Steelhawks moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania in 2015, and began using a black field, while the Massachusetts Pirates began play in 2018 on a dark blue field. The Buffalo Lightning of American Indoor Football, for convenience purposes, used a plain Haudenosaunee-purple field with no field markings except for goal lines; the Lightning play their games on a hastily converted box lacrosse court.

The National Football League has prohibited the use of non-traditional field colors without league permission since 2011, and no team in the league has ever attempted doing so.[25]

Image gallery

References

  1. ^ a b "EMU Installing Gray FieldTurf Surface at Rynearson Stadium" (Press release). Eastern Michigan University Athletics. June 17, 2014. Archived from the original on March 26, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  2. ^ Held, Kevin (July 12, 2012). "Lindenwood University-Belleville Football Field turf laid down". KSDK.com. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Treadway, Daniel (July 27, 2011). "Boise State Banned From Wearing Blue Uniforms On Smurf Turf". Huffington Post.
  4. ^ "Boise State to stay in Mountain West". Sports Illustrated. December 31, 2012. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
  5. ^ a b Siegel, Alan (October 13, 2014). "The 10 Best Fields in College Football". fanindex.usatoday.com. USA Today. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  6. ^ "Boise State Somehow Got A Trademark On Non-Green Athletic Fields". Techdirt. 15 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  7. ^ a b Cripe, Chad (September 23, 2011). "Here's how Boise State protects its trademark on the blue turf". Idaho Statesman. Archived from the original on October 17, 2013. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  8. ^ "Blue turf fits Luther football-Norse first D-III program with non-green field". Cedar Rapids Gazette. 22 September 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  9. ^ "SUNY Morrisville unveils black turf at Stadium". SUNY Morrsiville Athletics. 18 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  10. ^ "Purple & Gray Turf Coming to Estes Stadium". Central Arkansas Athletics. 1 April 2011. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
  11. ^ a b Watson, Graham (July 11, 2012). "NAIA school unveils the nation's most original (hideous) football field". Yahoo Sports. Retrieved September 7, 2012. We've seen all blue fields (Boise State) and all red fields (Eastern Washington), and we've even seen stripes (Central Arkansas), but this, this is an abomination to the game. It looks like a flattened out barbershop pole. Whatever happened to good ol' green?
  12. ^ "Dellacamera Stadium: Home of Chrager Football!". New Haven Chargers. 2013. Retrieved January 5, 2013.
  13. ^ "Eastern Washington installing red turf". ESPN. February 26, 2010. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  14. ^ "Eastern Michigan Football Introduces The Factory". Eastern Michigan University.
  15. ^ "Japan's Hosei University Dedicates Turf". Boise State Athletics/Bronco Sports. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  16. ^ "Boise St. tight end Huff relishing time in Japan with Hosei". The Japan Times. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  17. ^ "Another Blue Football Field: Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium at the University of New Haven". Tom McMahon.net. November 19, 2008. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
  18. ^ "$600,000 payment for turf football field stolen from Spotsylvania". Fredericksburg.com. August 5, 2019. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  19. ^ Chandler, Rick (August 21, 2012). "Oregon High School says 'The heck with everything, we're going with black turf'". Off the Bench. NBCSports.com. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
  20. ^ https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/sports/high_school/mustangs-roll-out-the-red-carpet/article_305b0533-18e9-5853-b365-67e745f24921.html
  21. ^ "A Shrinking Team, but a Home Field Advantage". The New York Times. 18 November 2002.
  22. ^ "Belle Vernon Ready Debut New Golden Football Turf". USA TODAY High School Sports. 2015-08-26. Retrieved 2018-09-21.
  23. ^ Mikkelson, Drew. "Tenino High installs black turf football field". king5.com. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  24. ^ "Moore Catholic unveils state-of-the-art football field". 19 April 2021.
  25. ^ Rosenthal, Gregg (March 22, 2011). "There will be no blue NFL fields". Pro Football Talk. NBC Sports. Retrieved January 30, 2013.
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