One of the notable storylines heading into the San Francisco 49ers preseason home opener at Levi's Stadium was the condition of the field. The team has had some issues with poor playing surfaces over the last year, and the issue popped up during practices earlier this month.
Following a pair of Taylor Swift concerts, the field was replaced on Wednesday, in advance of Sunday's game. There were questions about whether it would be in place in time to create a firm playing surface, and it appears everything was a success. The team used an Arizona-based company this time around, but reports indicate they will still use their California based company in the future.
Matt Maiocco reported over the weekend that the root structure was a problem in the last batch. The length of the roots was insufficient to grow down, and thus the turf was moving around. This new batch seemed to be fine, and there were no issues through the game.
Over the weekend, Jerry Jones and Jason Garrett brought up the turf issue, with Jones at one point comparing the surface to when the Cowboys played a game in Mexico City. Jones tried to walk back the comment later that day. However, following a game in which the grass showed no issues, he apologized for his previous comments.
Jones on Levi's grass: "Anything I said about that grass, I'm wrong, I take back. It's a great playing surface. They've done a lot of work."
— Janie McCauley (@JanieMcCAP) August 24, 2015
Jerry Jones: "I feel terrible that in any way w/o coming up here & doing my own grass inspection that I had any criticism of their grass."
— Janie McCauley (@JanieMcCAP) August 24, 2015
The 49ers grounds crew deserve credit for getting this situation sorted out. They will likely be replacing it again after a Luke Bryan concert later this weekend. However, if the root structure problem has been resolved, I would hope that means the field surface should be good to go moving forward. For now it will remain