Kinnick Stadium @ 12:15 p.m. today (Friday)

Michael Graham, a UI chef and one of the folks behind the website, Hawkeye Hideout, posted this photo of the Kinnick Stadium field on Twitter today at about 12:15 p.m.

It looks as though the green portion of the FieldTurf will be the next step.

In May 2007, FieldTurf was the athletic surface for 2,000 sports facilities worldwide. For 48,000 hours of use, the maintenance of FieldTurf costs $15.21 an hour compared to $65.71 for real turf, according to FieldTurf's literature.

I believe what we're seeing here is the silica sand. Going on FieldTurf literature, there will be another layer of cryogenic rubber before the actual fake green stuff is applied. In 2007, FieldTurf was in 39 NCAA FBS stadiums, including Michigan, Minnesota (don't know about the new stadium), Ohio State and Wisconsin.

The same stuff is going into Kingston Stadium in Cedar Rapids. Check out Jeff Linder's blog for details on Kingston.

EDIT: The UI just posted a puzzle graphic that will unveil the new field in the next few days.

My guess? I remember Kirk Ferentz was once asked about putting a big TigerHawk in the middle of the field. His response was something like, "Well, it'd be upside down for half the people."

If anything, I'd guess it'd be a big block "I," but I'm going to guess it's going to be classic design, just as old Kinnick was.