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List of college football venues with non-traditional field colors

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Summary

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This is a list of college football venues with non-traditional field colors. Traditionally, college football is played on grass fields. As technology advanced, the use of various kinds of artificial turf as a playing surface became more and more popular. With the artificial turf came the ability to have field colors other than green. Although many programs that choose an artificial surface for games do keep a green surface, a few have chosen other colors.

It is common for the end zones to be painted a different color, but as of the 2015 season only seven programs have their field color other than the traditional green. Six of the programs participate in the NCAA and one in the NAIA.

Conference affiliations are accurate as of the 2025 college football season.

Stadium	Team	Location	Division	Conference	Field color	Year installed	Capacity	Notes
Albertsons Stadium	Boise State Broncos	Boise, Idaho	NCAA Division I FBS	Mountain West Conference
(Pac-12 Conference in 2026)	Blue	1986	36,387	url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/27/boise-state-banned-blue-uniforms-smurf-turf_n_910913.html	work=Huffington Post	first=Daniel	last=Treadway	title=Boise State Banned From Wearing Blue Uniforms On Smurf Turf	date=July 27, 2011}} The uniform restrictions were removed from 2013 forward as part of the deal that kept Boise State in that conference after it had initially planned to leave. Boise State holds a trademark on any non-green field, not just blue; the enforceability of such a vague trademark has been questioned. It has licensed the right to use blue fields to several high schools as well as the University of New Haven, and also issues free licenses to any school or team that uses a color other than blue or orange, Boise State's school colors.
Blue Storm Stadium	University of New England Nor'Easters	Biddeford, Maine	NCAA Division III	Conference of New England	Blue	2018	1,600	Location renovated from the Big Blue Turf, which opened in September 2010.
Brooks Stadium	Coastal Carolina Chanticleers	Conway, South Carolina	NCAA Division I FBS	Sun Belt Conference	Teal	2015	21,000	Nicknamed "The Surf Turf"
Carlson Stadium	Luther College Norse	Decorah, Iowa	NCAA Division III	American Rivers Conference	Blue	2017	5,000	First non-green field in NCAA Division III
Drake Field	SUNY Morrisville Mustangs	Morrisville, New York	NCAA Division III	Empire 8	Black	2023	1,500
Estes Stadium	Central Arkansas Bears	Conway, Arkansas	NCAA Division I FCS	United Athletic Conference	Purple and gray alternating every five yards	2011	10,000	Referred to as playing on “The Stripes”
Lindenwood Stadium	Lindenwood Lynx	Belleville, Illinois
(NAIA through 2019)
(Mid-States Football Association through 2019)	Red and gray alternating every five yards	2012	Unknown	url=https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/naia-school-unveils-nation-most-original-hideous-football-162913677--ncaaf.html	work=Yahoo Sports	title=NAIA school unveils the nation's most original (hideous) football field	date=July 11, 2012	first=Graham	last=Watson	access-date=September 7, 2012	quote=We've seen all blue fields (Boise State) and all red fields (Eastern Washington), and we've even seen stripes (Central Arkansas), but this, this is an abomination to the game. It looks like a flattened out barbershop pole. Whatever happened to good ol' green?}} Lindenwood University closed its Belleville campus in 2020 and later sold it to the city of Belleville. Southwestern Illinois College, which now manages the campus on the city's behalf, replaced Lindenwood's turf with a surface striped in two different shades of green in 2023.
Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium	New Haven Chargers	West Haven, Connecticut	NCAA Division I FCS	Northeast Conference	Blue	2009	5,000	New Haven and Boise State reached an agreement in 2009 to license the use of Boise State's trademark blue field. New Haven calls their field a "blue and yellow" field as part of the agreement.
Roos Field	Eastern Washington Eagles	Cheney, Washington	NCAA Division I FCS	Big Sky Conference	Red	2010	8,700	Nicknamed "The Inferno".
Rynearson Stadium	Eastern Michigan Eagles	Ypsilanti, Michigan	NCAA Division I FBS	Mid-American Conference	Gray	2014	30,200	Nicknamed "The Factory" by head coach Chris Creighton in honor of the area's 100+ years of automotive history .
Tomahawks Field	Hosei Orange	Tokyo, Japan	Japan American Football Association	Kantoh Collegiate American Football Association	Blue	2012	0	Granted special permission and an international trademark from Boise State to use blue turf.

Other levels of play with non-traditional colors

Other programs outside of college football have non-traditional colors. Lincoln College Preparatory Academy in Kansas City, Missouri has blue turf with yellow sidelines surrounded by a red track. Barrow High School in Utqiagvik, Alaska (formerly named Barrow) also has a blue turf, as do high schools in Hidalgo, Texas; Santee, California; Lovington, New Mexico; Ravenna, Ohio; Colonia, New Jersey; Oxford, Michigan; and Spotsylvania, Virginia. West Salem High School in Salem, Oregon has a black field. St. Mary's Preparatory in Orchard Lake Village, Michigan has red turf, as do Edgewood High School in Ellettsville, Indiana and Ludlow High School in Ludlow, Kentucky. Trona High School in Trona, San Bernardino County, California has an all-dirt field, the only one in the United States outside of Alaska. Belle Vernon Area School District uses a gold turf with black accents. Tenino High School has a black turf football field. Moore Catholic High School in Staten Island, New York unveiled its red turf field in 2021. Also in Kentucky, Paris High School in the city of that name unveiled an orange field in 2024.

The Nebraska Danger of the Indoor Football League also play on a black field, while the Trenton Freedom of the Professional Indoor Football League began play in 2014 on a red field. From 2014 to 2016, the L.A. KISS of the Arena Football League played on a silver field. Two teams currently in the National Arena League use non-traditional field colors. The Lehigh Valley Steelhawks moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania in 2015, and began using a black field, while the Massachusetts Pirates began play in 2018 on a dark blue field. The Buffalo Lightning of American Indoor Football, for convenience purposes, used a plain Haudenosaunee-purple field with no field markings except for goal lines; the Lightning play their games on a hastily converted box lacrosse court.

The National Football League has prohibited the use of non-traditional field colors without league permission since 2011, and no team in the league has ever attempted doing so.

Gallery

File:Bronco Stadium Blue Turf August 2010.png|Boise State's Albertsons Stadium is known for its "smurf turf" File:EWU-Roos-Field.jpg|Eastern Washington's Roos Field has a distinctive bright red color. File:TS sold out picture fw.jpg|Coastal Carolina's Brooks Stadium uses a teal turf. File:Estes Stadium, Conway, Arkansas.jpg|Estes Stadium alternates purple and gray. File:LUBellevilleStadPanorama.jpg|Lindenwood Stadium, called "The nation's most original football field" File:14437-Athletics-Football vs ETBU-9805 (15149144522).jpg|Commerce, Texas's Memorial Stadium, while using a green base, features a very large logo that colors much of the field gold. File:E.J. Nemeth.jpg|The red turf of the Trenton Freedom is seen (quarterback E. J. Nemeth in foreground) File:Barrow-Whalers-turf-field.jpg|The blue and yellow field of northern Alaska's Barrow High School is also the northernmost American football field in the world.

References

(June 17, 2014). "EMU Installing Gray FieldTurf Surface at Rynearson Stadium". [[Eastern Michigan Eagles.
Held, Kevin. (July 12, 2012). "Lindenwood University-Belleville Football Field turf laid down". [[KSDK.
Treadway, Daniel. (July 27, 2011). "Boise State Banned From Wearing Blue Uniforms On Smurf Turf". Huffington Post.
(December 31, 2012). "Boise State to stay in Mountain West".
(October 13, 2014). "The 10 Best Fields in College Football". USA Today.
(September 15, 2016). "Boise State Somehow Got A Trademark On Non-Green Athletic Fields".
Cripe, Chad. (September 23, 2011). "Here's how Boise State protects its trademark on the blue turf". [[Idaho Statesman]].
(September 22, 2017). "Blue turf fits Luther football-Norse first D-III program with non-green field". Cedar Rapids Gazette.
(July 18, 2023). "SUNY Morrisville unveils black turf at Stadium". SUNY Morrsiville Athletics.
(April 1, 2011). "Purple & Gray Turf Coming to Estes Stadium". Central Arkansas Athletics.
Watson, Graham. (July 11, 2012). "NAIA school unveils the nation's most original (hideous) football field". [[Yahoo Sports]].
Maddox, Teri. (September 24, 2023). "Former Belleville Township Stadium is going back to green turf. Who’s going to use it?". Belleville News Democrat.
(2013). "Dellacamera Stadium: Home of Chrager Football!". [[New Haven Chargers]].
(February 26, 2010). "Eastern Washington installing red turf". [[ESPN]].
"Eastern Michigan Football Introduces The Factory". [[Eastern Michigan University]].
"Japan's Hosei University Dedicates Turf". Boise State Athletics/Bronco Sports.
"Boise St. tight end Huff relishing time in Japan with Hosei". The Japan Times.
(November 19, 2008). "Another Blue Football Field: Ralph F. DellaCamera Stadium at the University of New Haven". Tom McMahon.net.
(August 5, 2019). "$600,000 payment for turf football field stolen from Spotsylvania". Fredericksburg.com.
Chandler, Rick. (August 21, 2012). "Oregon High School says 'The heck with everything, we're going with black turf'". [[NBC Sports.
"Mustangs roll out the red carpet".
Weber, Dan. (July 11, 2023). "Dan Weber’s Just Sayin’: Looking at the very bright side of football down Ludlow High way". Northern Kentucky Tribune.
(November 18, 2002). "A Shrinking Team, but a Home Field Advantage". The New York Times.
(August 26, 2015). "Belle Vernon Ready Debut New Golden Football Turf". USA TODAY High School Sports.
(August 30, 2017). "Tenino High installs black turf football field".
(April 19, 2021). "Moore Catholic unveils state-of-the-art football field".
Patel, Ajay. (August 23, 2024). "Paris High School’s football field crushes other local fields". WLEX-TV.
Rosenthal, Gregg. (March 22, 2011). "There will be no blue NFL fields". [[NBC Sports]].

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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