Dolphins Will No Longer Have to Deal With Infield Dirt at Sun Life Stadium, Starting With Monday’s Matchup Against Patriots

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Sep 12, 2011

Dolphins Will No Longer Have to Deal With Infield Dirt at Sun Life Stadium, Starting With Monday's Matchup Against Patriots Since their inauguration as a franchise in 1993, the Florida Marlins have shared Sun Life Stadium (and the six other pseudonyms the stadium has gone by) with the Miami Dolphins, causing maintenance nightmares for the grounds crew.

Because the MLB and NFL seasons overlap, the Dolphins had been forced to play at least a portion of their home schedule on a field that contained infield dirt left over for the end of the baseball season. Before football games, grounds crew members were forced to either put sod grass over the infield dirt or smooth out the dirt as best they could. During rainstorms, this created a footing disaster for players.

The days of baseball dirt mixed with pigskin grass are no longer, however. The Dolphins will have grass put down for their Monday Night Football showdown with the Patriots and for the Fins' Week 2 contest with the Texans. By the time Miami hosts its next home game on Oct. 23, the Marlins' season will be finished and all infield dirt will be removed. With the Marlins moving to a new stadium in 2012, that means the Dolphins will no longer be sharing their field with the city's baseball club and therefore won't have to deal with any more dirt.

The dirt-free field will be a welcomed relief for NFL players. In February, a players poll determined Sun Life Stadium to have the fourth-worst playing surface in the NFL.

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