Lambeau Field Turf Will Be Replaced

The NFL has spent $100,000 for 85,000 square feet of sod for the title game at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field. The new sod will be trucked in from the Duro-Turf farm in Bowie, Md., today.

“I don’t know at this point if we’re looking to grow it as much as we are to get it into place, pack it down and make sure that it’s going to stay down,” field supervisor Todd Edlebeck said.

The groundskeepers hope to be finished by Thursday night--unless it snows.

Edlebeck said the old sod will be torn away as the new sod is unrolled. That way, if a snowstorm or debilitating deep freeze does sweep through, the stadium won’t be left with just a big sand box for a field.

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Tight end Wesley Walls, the Panthers’ best offensive weapon, rejected free-agent offers from Philadelphia, New Orleans and Arizona to sign with Carolina this year.

“I was offered the same amount of money by New Orleans and thought about going there because it’s close to my [Mississippi] home,” Walls said. “But this is my kind of city. I can go to McDonald’s here and order a hamburger and they can understand my accent and know what I’m saying.”

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General Manager Bill Polian, who put together the Carolina franchise that is one game from making the Super Bowl in its second year, was asked about the prospect of an all-expansion Super Bowl with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“I don’t think they will cancel the Super Bowl if these two teams get in,” he said.