FORD FIELD

OVERVIEW: Ford Field opened its doors as the home of the Detroit Lions in 2002. The 65,000 seat stadium located in Detroit was the driving force behind the Lions returning to the city after playing in the Pontiac Silverdome. The stadium is located at 2000 Brush Street and the main phone number is 313-262-2000.

COSTS: The $500 milion total cost to build included $350 million for the actual stadium and an additional $150 million in warehouse development cost. The sound system installed cost $8 million and include six different clusters of 15-20 speakers. The $11 million scoreborads are one of the most technically advanced video and audio systems in football. Each measures 27 feet high and 150 feet wide and are capable of displaying 68 billion different colors.

SIZE: The total square feet of the building is 1.8 million with 750,000 square feet of warehouse space sitting on a total of roughly 25 acres. The playing field itself is 97,000 squre feet. Ford Field also includes 350,000 sqare feet of retail/lease space. The stadium roof span is 450 feet and weighs 5,600 tons.

TURF: The turf at Ford Field consists of 4 layers and is known as Field Turf. The bottom layer is a 9 inch slab of concrete that serves as the base. Holding the turf in place is the Geotextile that measures .13 of an inch. The cushion, or infill, is a mixture of sand and ground rubber that also helps support the grass fibers. The rubber used came from recalled Firestone tires. The "grass" is a hybrid fiber of polyethylene and polyproylene. These platic blades are placed in a pattern that emulates natural grass.