UB Stadium to get new turf and field design

A new turf will be installed in UB Stadium this summer and Alumni Arena’s basketball court will be refinished — with both playing surfaces prominently featuring the new wordmark and new spirit mark for UB Athletics, as well as the interlocking UB logo.

When completed, the new designs for the field and court will reflect the university’s new brand and identity strategy, which has aligned all UB units and schools more closely with the official university name and logo.  

UB Stadium’s current turf will be repurposed and installed this summer in Kunz Stadium as part of a larger effort to improve recreational facilities for UB’s 29,000 students. Kunz Stadium is one of the university’s primary facilities for student recreation and intramural sports; its current turf was installed in 2004.

The UB Stadium field’s new design will display the interlocking UB at midfield and UB Athletics’ new wordmark “Buffalo” in the end zones.   

The basketball court will feature the interlocking UB at center court and UB Athletics’ new tagline, “New York’s Public Powerhouse,” along the sidelines to emphasize UB’s strength in New York State and its stature as one of the nation’s leading public research universities.

The Mid-American Conference shield will be featured on the field and court.

“UB Athletics is pleased to proudly display our new wordmark and spirit mark on these high-profile venues for our men’s and women’s athletics teams,” says Allen Greene, director of athletics. “They reflect our tremendous pride in the university and in our Buffalo community.

“I’m excited that the new surface in UB Stadium will also allow us to improve the recreational facilities in Kunz Stadium for all the students who use UB’s intramural and recreational facilities.”

The new UB Stadium turf will be made of A-Turf Titan, a synthetic surfacing system produced by A-Turf, a company headquartered in Western New York.

Installation of the new turf began last week and will be completed in August in time for the Bulls’ football and the men’s and women’s soccer seasons. The basketball court’s refinishing has been completed.

Installation of the turf in Kunz Stadium will give students a much-improved playing surface for recreational activities and popular intramural sports such as flag football, soccer, lacrosse and field hockey, as well as an improved practice facility for the UB marching band, color guard and Dazzler dance team.

Because A-Turf originally installed the turf in UB Stadium and will reinstall it in Kunz Stadium, the company will continue to honor the turf’s 10-year warranty, of which eight years remain, a factor in UB’s decision to contract with the company.

The total cost of installing the turfs in UB and Kunz stadiums is $770,000. The cost of refinishing the basketball court in Alumni Arena is $16,900.

“Kunz field is a highly utilized and valued facility by UB students,” says Minahil Khan, outgoing Student Association president. “The replacement turf will provide a much-needed improvement to Kunz field and be appreciated by hundreds of students who use it regularly.”

UB officials have been in discussions this spring with SUNY officials to implement a student government proposal to separate the intercollegiate athletics fee, which currently funds both Athletics and Recreation and Intramural activities, into two components: an athletics fee and a recreation fee.

The fee structure will provide better transparency of investments in student recreation and intramurals, as well as a foundation for generating funds needed to construct an on-campus recreation facility and enhance current recreation facilities on UB’s campuses. A feasibility study for student recreation facilities showed strong student support for increasing the recreation fee in the future to fund these facilities.

“I’m thankful that our campus leadership has been receptive to the student government’s proposal to build a stand-alone recreation facility for students,” Kahn says. “I’m hopeful that our campus leadership will be able to work with SUNY officials to develop funds for the project.”