The San Francisco 49ers have officially begun the re-sodding process at Levi's Stadium, as of Monday afternoon. There is no timeline on when the grass will officially be in place, but as socalisteph discussed last week, once the grass is in place, it should take around ten days to mesh with the sand below it.
The sand is the reason for this problem. As socalisteph reported last week, there was a problem with the sand base that goes beneath the grass. Matt Barrows went into a little more detail with his report today, writing that there was a problem with the soil/sand composition. "After conferring with experts, the 49ers concluded that there was too much sand in the mix, which didn't allow the grass to take root like it should have."
Previously, socalisteph reported the plan was to start the re-sodding process this coming Saturday following the two high school games on Friday. However, those games have since been relocated to Cal's Memorial Stadium, which meant they could begin the re-sodding process now. The stadium will play host to Mexico vs. Chile on September 6, which is 12 days from now. If they get the sod completely down in the next day or two, that gives it the time it needs to get in place. They will need to do some cleaning up after the soccer match, but that will be a more limited process, which should mean plenty of time in the eight days leading up to the 49ers home opener against the Chicago Bears.
The 49ers used a temporary process this past weekend which used a deeper bit of dirt, and thicker roots for the grass. Although the field did not look all that great, it seemed to hold up well enough. It was always meant as a temporary solution, and now the 49ers are at work on the long-term solution.
Here's another picture of the field from Monday afternoon: