Washington installing new grass at FedEx Field

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The Washington Football Team has played on the same grass field at FedEx Field since 1997. At times, it has looked more like dirt and spray paint.

The team, though, will begin replacing the grass and more than a foot of soil at FedEx Field this week, TheAthletic.com reports.

The project will take approximately two months, and team officials expect the new grass to hold up through the end of Washington’s lease at the stadium in 2027.

“We’ve resodded more often, and we’ve done other things strategically to improve the surface, and it’s gotten better the last couple of years,” Chris Bloyer, the team’s senior vice president for operations and guest experience, told TheAthletic.com. “But this is really a big move in the direction of a vast improvement. Let’s say they were not baby steps, but close, in how it was getting better year over year the last few years. This is a significant renovation and will be much different.”

The project, led by head groundskeeper Pete Benevento, will remove 5,000 cubic yards of soil. That will fill 500 dump trucks, per TheAthletic.com, and take the field down to the heating system.

Workers then will install more than 2 miles of drainage pipe and a new irrigation system.

Washington will use the same GameOnGrass, a type of proprietary Bermuda grass developed by Carolina Green, as the Eagles, Chiefs and Titans have in their stadiums.