Nothing Artificial About UNLV’s Football Field Saturday: Rebels Will Play On Raiders’ Natural Grass Surface At Allegiant Stadium
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By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
It’s double duty for the natural turf inside Allegiant Stadium for two football games Friday and Saturday.
UNLV’s football field is usually an artificial surface, but the Rebels will play Idaho State on the Raiders’ natural turf because the starting times for the Raider-Patriots game Friday at 5:15 PM and the UNLV-Idaho State game Saturday at 12:30 PM are so close together.
UNLV prefers an artificial playing turf. And typically, Allegiant Stadium rolls in a tray with the UNLV synthetic surface for Rebels football games. UNLV pays more than $150,000 a game to play at the Raiders-managed Allegiant Stadium.
The Raiders play on natural grass, which is in a tray outside the stadium that is inserted into the domed, 62,500-seat stadium.
When the Raiders played the Minnesota Vikings Aug. 14 inside Allegiant Stadium, the playing field’s rugged condition drew national attention for this photo posted by LVSportsBiz.com. The natural grass was showing wear and tear from two previous soccer games played in late July.
UNLV rarely plays on natural grass. The Rebels last competed on grass at Arizona State last September and will be on grass for a home game for the first time since former venue Sam Boyd Stadium featured the natural stuff from 1999-2002. UNLV’s last win on grass came in 2018 at San Diego State. The Rebels have been 0-3 on grass since the San Diego State Aztecs win.
The Rebels football team will have the UNLV arch at midfield and the Mountain West logos painted on the natural grass surface. The only difference is the end zones will still say “LAS VEGAS” and “RAIDERS.”
It should be noted that the Raiders’ natural grass turf will be replaced before the NFL regular season.
