What becomes of sod specifically grown for Super Bowl LIV?

‘Super’ sod at Hard Rock Stadium, years in the making, stripped after game, but it still serves a purpose

Kansas City Chiefs players celebrate after defeating the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 in Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium on Feb. 02, 2020 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Mike Ehrmann, 2020 Getty Images)

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Now that the Super Bowl is over, what will become of that specially-grown sod from the game?

It’s hardly a secret that the NFL grows its own grass years in advance, specifically for each Super Bowl.

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Ed Mangan, the NFL’s field director for special events, said the sod used for Super Bowl LIV was grown in Georgia and delivered to Hard Rock Stadium for Sunday’s game -- all 92,000 square feet of it.

The NFL began the practice of growing its own “super” sod after a rain-soaked Rose Bowl field in 1993 needed extensive repairs. Since then, every Super Bowl played on a natural grass turf has received its own new grass.

According to the Wall Street Journal, 660 rolls of grass were loaded onto 30 flatbed trucks for the trek to South Florida, where the field on which the Miami Dolphins played was stripped and replaced with the super sod.

Hours after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 31-20, the process of stripping the field began.

A portion of the demolished field will line the paddock and track of a horse farm, while the remainder will be used as filler at a plant nursery, the Wall Street Journal reported.


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