Since 1935, Zable Stadium as it has been known as since 1990 has served as the football stadium for The College of William & Mary. After the first night game ever at Zable stadium when ESPN had to bring their own temporary lights to allow for the game to take place, last year the college received gifts totalling $650,000 for new, permanent lights for the stadium (thank you!).

In the April 16th edition of the W&M Alumni E-Connection, there was a link to thisTribe Athletics press release noting that this summer Cary Field at Zable Stadium was to be resurfaced with an artificial surface from Field Turf. While I will miss some of the hallmarks of natural grass such as well mud in the rain and players having to remove hunks of sod from their helmets after being the recipient of a particularly good hit, it does seem that artificial surfaces are where its at these days. Most of the NFL teams (24 of 32) play on Field Turf surfaces and it does make sense that artificial surfaces are easier to maintain (as I look outside at the height of my lawn…). My alma mater is not the only school in their A10 Football Conference moving to Field Turf JMU is as well and Richmond has had it since 2004.

The picture to the left is one I took when I was out and about on campus and decided to check on the status of the field. This is a closer view from field level. Hopefully I will get the opportunity to check the progress of the installation a couple more times before the field is fully in.

On an unrelated note, the William & Mary Athletics department recently published a seating chart for Zable Stadium which I and others have wanted to see on the interweb for a while. Looks nice!