Northern Michigan University’s athletic teams will be playing on a newly installed turf roll this coming academic year.

The current turf in the Superior Dome was installed at the time of the facility’s construction. After 33 years, NMU’s athletic department will update the world’s largest turf roll, just in time for the start of the fall athletic season.

Lindsey Majkrzak, head coach of women’s lacrosse, said she and her team are thrilled to see the update to the Dome and to play on the new turf roll.

“We are all very excited,” Majkrzak said. “The new turf will be a great new update to the Dome!”

The replacement of the turf, which will take place during the summer, has caused excitement among the entire athletic department. The administration, trainers, players and coaches are looking forward to this update to the facility they call home.

This scheduled switch will bring a new level of eagerness to the athletes that train on it day after day. The new turf will be larger than the current one and will have more cushion. The update to a newer surface is expected to reduce the number of athlete injuries that are related to the turf being old and worn.

“People slide a lot on it and have a hard time getting a grip, even in a grass cleat,” said Emily Spiess, the athletic trainer for men’s soccer and women’s lacrosse. “So, there’s a little bit more falling and injuries that way.”

The current turf of the Superior Dome is a retractable carpet roll, rather than any of the other common types of turf such as astro-roll turf and nylon turf. Typically, the outdoor styles of turf seen at other universities within NMU’s athletic conference have longer individual blades, small black beads within the blades and more cushion than NMU’s turf.

“The soccer teams here practice outside on grass fields,” said Triston Nelson, a men’s soccer player. “When we play away games on turf, it’s so beneficial to our performance to train on the Dome turf. It lets us get used to the change of surface.”

NMU is home to 18 varsity teams, and eight of which find their home in​ the Superior Dome. Teams such as football and women’s lacrosse play the entirety of their home games on the turf within the world’s largest wooden dome. Other programs such as soccer, golf and track and field use the turf for their daily practices during Marquette’s cold winter months.