ANOTHER SHADE OF GREEN

[Music] only yesterday football was just a game the highlight of a fall saturday afternoon to today's young american mayo it has become a way of life [Music] this is john davis he's 18 years old he stands six feet one weighs 204 pounds and looks in some like the athlete he is he's got everything ability intelligence and attitude [Music] this present-day gladiator has one goal to be the best [Music] after he has carefully fitted each part of his body into its protective armor he emerges as the ultimate sex symbol and in the footsteps of his superheroes goes forth to battle in the arena [Music] [Applause] the interest in sports has never been more widespread more intense than it is today [Music] millions of new fans young and all alike have become enthralled not only with the drama and excitement of sports but with the skill and courage of the players if today's kids are to find a place in tomorrow's pantheon of heroes they need a place to develop their skills today [Music] but this growing interest in active participation in sports and the boom in leisure and recreation activities has put a tremendous strain on existing facilities and land which is not always readily available is at a premium in the past decade an answer has emerged an answer that affords maximum utilization of existing land an answer that lets a high school schedule six or eight different games every weekend on the same field an answer that gives the entire student body access to a college stadium an answer that allows baseball and football seasons to overlap in harmony [Applause] the answer you're looking for in the planning of athletic and recreational facilities for your school your college and your community [Music] in the late 1950s the monsanto company of st louis missouri a company known for innovation foresaw the problem monsanto scientists pioneered research in a new field the field of synthetic surfaces for athletic and recreational facilities a program that was to result in the birth of the world's first synthetic turf turf [Music] historically monsanto had an advantage in the development of synthetic turf athletic fields a heritage of technical expertise and chemicals and plastics which led naturally to an early entry into the field of man-made fibers today monsanto is the second largest producer of nylon in the world a large and diversified company with over a thousand products manufactured in 46 plants in the united states and manufacturing operations in 19 other countries at 10 laboratories in the united states monsanto scientists continually develop new and better products for more demanding markets products like nylon and acro lan acrylic fiber for carpeting and for the fast changing world of fashion products like monville by constituent fiber for sheer stretchability the famous whereadated label assures consumers of the quality that goes into each finished garment and then there are products like light emitting diodes that split seconds products that go into space and into this lush midwestern cornfield where monsanto's pesticides control weed and insects deep in the soil monsanto's dedication to the highest standards of quality is well established that same dedication went into the research and development of astroturf astroturf is the only synthetic turf sold by a company basic in synthetic fiber research and production with the installation at the houston astrodome in 1966 the swing to synthetic turf was on the response has been overwhelming and today more than 150 successful astroturf installations have been completed for professional and municipal stadiums and college and high school fields throughout the country in fact nearly four out of every five synthetic turf installations are astroturf more and more colleges and communities with a limited amount of playing area and a broad appetite for sports and recreation have made astroturf the number one choice and quality is just one reason an astroturf field is a complex operation and there's only one company in the world whose primary business is installing and maintaining synthetic turf fields and as a wholly owned subsidiary of monsanto their business is astroturf they bring with them more engineering capabilities and experience than all other companies combined and some unique machines meticulous pre-installation planning goes into every astroturf field after all no two fields are alike no two fields have the same characteristics the asphalt has been packed thoroughly and checked for proper grade and drainage now it's time to transform this giant parking lot like a prowling big-eyed bug with whiplashing tail the glue machine a monsanto invention spreads its special adhesive precisely and evenly into its trail rolls of energy-absorbing underpads are carefully laid to cushion the fall [Applause] designed to maintain their shock absorbency through all climatic conditions from the coldest to the hottest finally the astroturf is unveiled following the 15 foot wide adhesive track of the glue machine as the huge outrigger another monsanto first continually guides the unrolling turf whether you're planning for football baseball or a conversion feel for both or an all-purpose intramural field the astroturf stadium system is engineered to be as safe as possible consistent with the sports played on it it completely eliminates ruts ridges potholes and muddy spots so flawless even the seams are impossible to detect unless you have your nose to the ground the conversion field comes with a portable pitches mound the batter's box and sliding areas are easily converted to the standard football configuration by the removal of the astroturf covering these sections specially designed trenches along with giant industrial zippers make conversions simple whatever the sport care and maintenance are at a minimum and the uniform all-weather surface means that the game is based strictly on a player's skills the beauty is obvious as you look across this lush forest green surface a surface tested for durability built to take brutal punishment year after year rugged resilient reliable astroturf has a commanding lead in the field astroturf yesterday's innovation is now a familiar part of the sporting scene why is astroturf the number one choice how well has it performed on the field talk to the people who made that choice talk to the people who know from experience i think it's important to realize that at boston university this is our one and only outdoor playing facility as you can readily understand land values in the metropolitan area of boston are extremely high and consequently it behooved boston university to make maximal effective utilization of space i would guess that in all of those facilities we have approximately 40 000 participants we feel that we're going to play on it every time but two times a year and the two teams that do not have astroturf uh several times we have had some bad uh fields or do not have artificial turf have bad fields and they made the playing conditions very unsatisfactory for players and spectators alike if there is snow on the field prior to the game we can have it swept off the field and have a field in good condition rain has been the thing that has been the most important factor in that we can play a game when it's raining or it's snowing we've had more problems on rainy days and it's enabled us to play a lot more football games in good conditions and it's enabled us to practice on the field where we couldn't practice otherwise we investigated and made several surveys to see how many different groups might use the fields talk to to cities outside the district that might want to use our fields for renter fields for different playoff activities and things like this the fact that the rotc the drill teams all different types of community groups could use or could rent our fields any time of the year for this and came up with the idea that possibly the additional revenue that would be created by uh covering the fields with astroturf the additional usage that we would have that they could be paid for with the increased revenue we did have bond money available the response to these fields have just been overwhelming that's the turf is my favorite in bad weather on the regular turf if it's wet and heavy but it takes a lot out of your legs i like to feel like that our players like it i think the majority of them do a fact i know the majority of them do and i think the fans are entitled to that because they're again they drive long distances and pay their money and then i will see you best well we decide on astroturf by investigation first of all we knew from previous experience that this field didn't hold up it was a clouded dust and a bunch of pebbles and the grass had been put down only a year before there has been in the news and other places at that particular time especially with the football harangue and everything else about the disadvantages of astroturf but we went around and we looked at franklin field university of pennsylvania we went to we spoke to people at hofstra we did we went to a lot of other turf fields we went all around the northeast here and looked at at what could happen and what happened in areas that were both natural turf and synthetic turf and our investigation proved very conclusively to us that the original proposal by the student services corporation that a synthetic turf field in this area would be advisable was substantiated that we chose astroturf because we thought it was the best product well for one thing it's meant that we've missed no practices we've gone inside several times when the weather's so bad and so miserable that there's no way you could be outside but as far as dampness rain this type thing we've never been stopped from practice i like that another feature i like about it is that we have the same consistency of the same resilience and the day before thanksgiving is we have september 1st and on the natural turf it gets hard the grass gets worn out it gets lumpy uh it's so hard to maintain but this is the same turf day in and day out i think it's the greatest thing to come along athletically in modern times i think uh it's something we've needed long ago i had no idea that we could play this good a football game on artificial turf i think it's a definite asset to the game [Music] the whole human race is filling up space and the land we use will grow so far we live on this earth and we know what it's worth and that shows us who we are change can bring [Music] another shade of green another shade of green there had to be a better way and the practical solution was astroturf providing beauty as well as utility helping schools colleges and communities make better use of available land turning a practice field that's no longer needed into a site for a new building making it possible for more people to participate in more field sports in all seasons seven days a week all day long [Music] shade of green another shade of green another shade of green [Music] astrid earth gives you superior performance year after year and the pride and satisfaction that comes from having the best so make no mistake about it a synthetic turf field is a big investment and the way to protect that investment is by making your choice the number one choice in synthetic turf the original synthetic turf from monsanto the acknowledged leader in the field with more manufacturing engineering and installation experience than all other companies combined the company with the biggest stake in the field [Music] monsanto puts its reputation on the line with each and every installation and gives you the service and guarantee to back it up monsanto is with you all the way from free planning to installation to service whatever it takes to give you the customer total satisfaction with astroturf just another shade of green a positive contribution in making fully use of the world's limited resources [Music] another shade [Music] another shade [Music] [Applause] you