Rihanna’s Comeback Performance on LED-Light Platforms During Super Bowl LVII, and How to Keep Them Off The Ground
The person responsible for Left Shark has to think about the different ways in which people view Super Bowl halftime shows. Over the course of 16 years, Bruce Rodgers has learned many things while designing the mid-game performance during the biggest game in American football. “Never again,” Rodgers laughs when asked if he considered including blue fish dancers for Rihanna’s Super Bowl LVII performance.
Instead, the superstar made her comeback performance (it’s Rihanna’s first since the 2018 Grammys) atop seven platforms suspended anywhere from 15 to 60 feet above the field. And while the LED-lit platforms, which were arranged in different positions as the singer moved through hits ranging from “Bitch Better Have My Money” to “Rude Boy,” looked cool as hell, they also served a very practical purpose: They kept her off the grass.
The Field at State Farm Stadium: A Turf Playground for Super Bowls, NFL Players and Supervised College Footballs, and an Overview of the NFL’s Big Game
It is 100,000 square feet of turf at State Farm Stadium that is rolled under the dome on a tray in the middle of the day in the sun so that it can be seen by the players, and then rolled back again the next day. It’s got a tool to make sure it’s the safest surface for football, and it’s watered and mowed daily. (Some call this tool “the thumper”—and yes you can imagine Dune.) The Gmax is the numerical measurement that it returns when it drops a hammer into the ground. NFL guidelines indicate the value must be below 100 Gmax.
Multiple players criticized the field at Super Bowl LVII after many found it difficult to keep their footing during the Kansas City Chiefs’ 38-35 win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
TV cameras showed many players from both teams slipping throughout the game, including Eagles kick Jake Elliot, who avoided serious injury when his standing leg fell from under him during a kickoff.
And following the conclusion of the game, players and fans on social media complained about the quality of the turf at State Farm Stadium, suggesting that it wasn’t up to the standard you’d expect for the NFL’s biggest game.
Mark Schlereth, who won three Super Bowls, called the field “absolute garbage” and said that the league should be embarrassed.
According to ESPN, the field at State Farm Stadium is made of a specific blend of two types of Bermuda grasses and rye grass called Tahoma 31. It is the same turf that is used in golf courses around the world.
The stadium has a retractable natural grass playing surface that measures 234 feet wide and 403 feet long and is on a 40-inch deep tray. The field rolls on 546 steel wheels, which rest on 13 railroad-like tracks, and it travels the 740 feet inside or out of the stadium in approximately 70 minutes.