One field at a time, the Cleveland Browns are building back Ohio football. After a $7 million dollar renovation project launched in the spring, the new field at Shaw Stadium is officially ready for play.
Funded by the Cleveland Browns and team owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam as part of the Browns Give Back program, the new field will provide student-athletes with a state-of-the-art playing surface for games, practices, and local events.
A world-class turf manufactured by the leaders in synthetic turf innovation, AstroTurf®, the new installation marks nearly a century of the field’s history and celebrates the start of a new era for East Cleveland athletics. At the dedication ceremony, Superintendent of the East Cleveland School District Dr. Henry Pettiegrew remarked, “We’re going to use this field to access our future. We will make you proud of this field, and we will have fun on this field.”
Built in 1923, Shaw Stadium has been a lodestone for the sport and the location of countless historic football moments at all levels of play – high school, collegiate, and pro. In its early days, it was the home field of the Cleveland Rams (now the Los Angeles Rams). Decades later, in the 1960s and 70s, the Cleveland Browns held practices at Shaw Stadium, as did the football teams for the Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University).
The field has since served as the home turf for Shaw High School; however, the school hasn’t been able to host a home game there in years. Before the upgrade, the area was in poor condition with worn-down bleachers and a spotty grass field. Now, with a freshly installed AstroTurf system and a brand-new look, East Cleveland has a lot to look forward to.
The field is AstroTurf’s finest – the RootZone 3D3 Trionic Blend system. It features a texturized layer of fibers that hold down the infill, resulting in next-gen durability and stability. The orange Browns helmet logo is painted on the 20-yard line, and the Red Cardinals logo is painted at midfield.
As a high-quality synthetic field, Shaw Stadium is now much easier to maintain, which will ensure everyone from the high school football team to cheerleaders and soccer players always have access to a premium surface for training and competitions.
The new field is part of the Browns Give Back program, an initiative started by the NFL team and the Haslam family to support youth football in Ohio. Over the past five years, Browns Give Back has renovated a total of ten fields, including five in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, which were finished in 2016, John Adams High School and John Marshall High School in 2017, George Daniel Field and Roy C. Start High School in 2018, Boys Hope Girls Hope of Northeastern Ohio and Ellet High School in 2019, and now Shaw Stadium in 2021.
All except for the Roy C. Start High School project feature AstroTurf’s RootZone 3D3 Trionic Blend system.
While the renovation at the historic Shaw Stadium is an exciting milestone, Browns Give Back is far from done. The program is already planning the 11th field upgrade at Akron Archbishop Hoban.
About AstroTurf®
For athletes and sports enthusiasts, AstroTurf® has redefined the way the game is played. The brand offers state-of-the-art multi-sport and specialized synthetic turf systems with proprietary engineered technologies. A growing number of high schools, colleges, and professional sports teams, as well as municipal sports fields, continue to choose AstroTurf-branded products for their durability, technical superiority, and safety. To learn more, visit AstroTurf’s website at https://www.astroturf.com.