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History of the AstroTurf Brand

AstroTurf — it’s one of the most iconic brands in sports. While everyone recognizes the name, not everyone knows the history.

AstroTurf borrows its name from the Houston Astrodome, where it was first used in a professional sports venue more than fifty years ago. The Astrodome was the first domed stadium- and it was a marvel of sports architecture. There was a major problem, though. The clear Lucite panels that comprised the dome created a glare. Astros outfielders and their opponents were blinded as they attempted — and failed — to catch pop-ups.

The initial solution was to paint the ceiling to cut the glare. It worked, but another problem arose. Deprived of adequate sunlight, the grass died! Meanwhile, Monsanto had just invented a brand new product called “ChemGrass.” During the Korean War, the U.S. Army had found urban recruits to be less physically fit than rural recruits. Attributing this to the lack of green space in cities, the Ford Foundation funded research for Monsanto to create a synthetic grass replica.

The Astrodome brought Monsanto in to install ChemGrass. It was a great success, and Monsanto capitalized on the popularity of its high-profile installation to rebrand its grass replica. Thus the “AstroTurf” brand was born.

It has been over a half-century since AstroTurf was first installed in Houston and technology has rapidly improved. NASA scientists no longer use the same computers to calculate trajectories. And these days, AstroTurf products come ever closer to replicating the feel, performance, and safety of the gold standard — natural grass.

Today AstroTurf harnesses its history of forward-thinking ingenuity and disciplined R&D to continuously improve its systems and deliver playing surfaces with the best sport-specific performance, durability, and player protection.