Univ. of South Carolina officials are confident the field at Williams-Brice Stadium "will be ready to go" for their home opener Saturday against Coastal Carolina after a Beyonce/Jay-Z concert last week caused the "entire playing surface to be taken up and replaced," according to Josh Kendall of the Columbia STATE. School officials "were expecting" possible damage from the concert and "got to work right away on the project." The stadium now will "feature 90,000 square feet of new grass." South Carolina Assistant AD/Turf & Landscaping Clark Cox said, "We would not have done this if we believed there was a safety issue." Kendall noted South Carolina AD Ray Tanner initially did "not want to host the concert because it was so close to the start of the season, but changed his mind after talking to football coach Will Muschamp and Cox." Tanner said Muschamp is the one who "shed so much light on why we needed to do it." Tanner added that Muschamp "thought the event would be good for the community and his team’s recruiting efforts." Kendall noted the replacement of the playing surface is "expected to cost between $150,000 and $200,000." Tanner indicated that concert organizers are "responsible for that cost." The concert "went so smoothly that Tanner said there’s a chance the school will host similar concerts in the future" (Columbia STATE, 8/26). The AP's Pete Iacobelli noted a hard cover was "put over the field to protect it from wear and tear caused by construction of the stage and concert-goers." Cox said that when the cover was removed, it was "clear the grass had died and needed to be replaced" (AP, 8/26).
