Eastern director of athletics Rich McDuffie and the rest of the athletics department will soon be the proud owners of an artificial playing surface at O’Brien Stadium.

Eastern’s board of trustee’s approved Monday the athletic department’s recommendation to purchase an artificial surface from Pittsburgh-based Turf USA for $550,000.

Turf USA will install its artificial surface called ProGrass. The new surface will consist of two-and-a-half inch individual strands of synthetic fibers filled with an inch and three quarters thick layer of sand and grounded pieces of rubber.

Eastern received bids from four other companies; Southwest Recreational Industries, Quest Turf LLC, Specialty Surfaces International and Kiefer Specialty Flooring, Inc.

Turf USA’s bid of $500,000, plus a $50,000 contingency plan, was nearly $100,000 fewer then any of the other bids. Southwest Recreational Industries, based in Cleveland, submitted a bid to install the surface called Astroplay, a product comparable to ProGrass, for $580,000. The other bids ranged from $600,000 to over $900,000.

The athletic department was able to raise about $600,000 from private gifts for the project and expects to receive a grant from the state for using recycled materials in the project. Assistant athletic director John Smith said Eastern hopes to receive $150,000 to $200,000 from the state grant.

Smith and McDuffie said the surplus funds raised will be used for unseen expenses involved with the project. Smith said the athletic department hired architects to conduct a survey for the project before the bid process. Smith said the survey cost between $30,000 and $33,000. Eastern will also need to purchase machinery for maintainance of the new field. A device that sweeps the field to evenly distribute the sand and rubber mix is included in Turf USA’s bid, but Eastern will need a tractor to pull it.

McDuffie said construction will destroy phone lines lying under the field that will need to be replaced.

Turf USA has installed ProGrass mostly at stadiums on the East coast, but has recently started targeting Mid-West facilities. Turf USA installed ProGrass at Augustana College’s field last year.

Smith said he and others in the athletic department visited Augustana and the feedback was very positive. “They (Augustana) said it was better than expected, and now that it’s been in a year, it’s even better than it was when it was first installed,” Smith said.

Smith said Eastern hopes to start construction the first week in June. Bob Thomas, Turf USA vice president of national sales and the salesman that worked with Eastern, said Turf USA usually asks for 45-60 days for construction.

If construction begins at the start of June as planned, it should be finished by the end of July with nearly two months to spare before Eastern’s first home football game September 20.

The designs on the field will remain the same as Eastern had it on the natural grass. Smith said both endzones will be gray with Eastern Illinois written on one and Panthers on the other. At midfield, the field will feature the Panther logo.

“We look forward to serving Eastern Illinois University with the finest synthetic grass on the market today,” Tom Evans, Turf USA general manager, said. “We look forward to making Eastern Illinois our marquee field in the Midwest.”