Boise State started the trend of non-green fields with its famous blue field, and the movement has progressed to other colors in recent years.
There's the red field of Eastern Washington.
There's the purple and gray of Central Arkansas.
And the gray of Eastern Michigan.
But no one had directly duplicated Boise State's blue, and for good reason: the Broncos literally own the trademark on blue Field Turf.
Luther College has negotiated the rights to produce Division III's first blue field. The Decorah, Iowa, based school owned the only grass field in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, increasingly a losing and expensive battle in the great (and often frozen) plains of the American midwest.
The Norse (fantastic nickname, by the way) announced Wednesday it will replace its grass field with a turf one -- a blue turf one.
At a cost of $1.7 million, the newly-named Legacy Field at Carlson Stadium will be installed in time for this season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kULNm7eJki0&feature=youtu.be
"This update to Carlson Stadium is a vital opportunity for Luther to not just 'catch up' to every other conference school with turf," defensive lineman Mitch Van Epps said. "This is a real chance to differentiate ourselves with a blue surface rather than green. My hopes are that blue turf will be a great marketing piece and will help Luther College attract more prospective students."
Update: Division II New Haven has had a blue field since 2008, making Luther College the first in Division III. The University of New England will add its own blue field in 2018 as well.