Cincy on the Prowl
Fansided

UC’s New End Zones Look Great, But Nippert’s 50-Yard Line C-Paw Is Awful

By Bearcat Jones

New Nippert Stadium turf design.
New Nippert Stadium turf design. /
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UC dropped the ball big time on their idea for the C-Paw logo at the 50-yard line of Nippert Stadium.

UPDATE: UC has reached out via Twitter to say that the turf around the C-Paw at midfield is only a different shade of green because it needs to be weathered a bit, since the rest of the turf has been out in the sun all summer.  We’ll see what it looks like come football season.  Seems like somebody should have thought of this and laid the logo section out on Sheakley Lawn this Summer to get some sun and/or rain.

What do you do when you install brand new, blank, paint-able, and erase-able artificial turf at Nippert Stadium?  Well, you don’t take full advantage of it, of course.  Instead of simply painting the iconic C-Paw logo on the 50-yard line for Cincinnati football games, and then simply erasing it during FC Cincinnati soccer matches, the UC athletic department has decided to place a cutout section of turf (which has the logo on it) at midfield.

The following aesthetically infuriating travesty is the result of this madness:

Yep, that looks terrible.  Seriously, whose idea was this?  The whole point of the new artificial turf is that this turf is fully paint-able and erase-able, allowing Nippert Stadium to accommodate minor league pro soccer without football markings, and vice versa.  So why would you lay a piece of turf down at the 50 that doesn’t match the rest of the turf.  The difference is shades of green is hideous and looks tacky.  Just paint the logo and erase it when necessary!

Here’s another look at the different shade of green around the midfield logo:

https://twitter.com/GoBearcatsFB/status/764808892891013121

I have a good idea who is behind this, and it doesn’t make me happy.  FC Cincinnati probably pushed for this so that the shadow of the C-Paw isn’t visible during their games (if you zoom in on this picture of Gillette Stadium, you can still see the faint remnants of the red and blue paint from the New England Patriots logo at midfield, even when in soccer configuration).  If UC is doing this because FC|C doesn’t want to be able to see even a hint of red and black paint during their games, it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.  I still don’t understand why you can’t just erase the logo for soccer.