Cincinnati Bearcats Have Social Media Fun With Black Football Field

The University of Cincinnati debuted a black field on Tuesday morning in anticipation of Friday’s matchup with the University of Central Florida. However, it has since been confirmed that the design was merely a concept for social media and will not be used during the game.

The University caught social media off-guard when the team’s verified Twitter account released photos of the football field painted black on Tuesday. In addition, the field featured Bearcat eyes at the 50-yard line. This was a new design that had been teased on Monday but was ultimately short-lived.

“There were so many great ideas for this week’s field paint, we decided to just combine them all together – and it is something special. Huge thank you to everyone for the input! Can’t wait to see this place rocking for #NippAtNight,” the post on Twitter said.

However, the University of Cincinnati later confirmed that this was simply social media fun, per WLWT5. The issue stems from the field design actually violating NCAA rules about color schemes.

According to the NCAA rule book, “All field-dimension lines shown must be white and 4 inches in width.”

In the design released by Cincinnati, these lines that run across the field are red in color. Additionally, there is an outline of the Cincinnati skyline in red that runs the length of the field. Although it is unclear if the skyline actually violates the rules.

The University of Cincinnati may not be moving ahead with this unique design, but it does bring attention to other stadiums in the country that are known for odd colors. The perfect example of this is Albertsons Stadium, which is home to the Boise State Broncos. This Idaho-based field surface is actually blue and has been this way since 1986. Although the turf has been changed multiple times throughout the years.

Albertsons Stadium featured the only non-green playing surface in the FBS for nearly 20 years, but that has since changed. The University of Central Arkansas went in a very different direction when it installed a purple and gray striped field. Eastern Washington University, on the other hand, opted for a bright red surface at Roos Field.

The University of Cincinnati may not be moving ahead with the black football field, but there are many available possibilities that could be used for future field changes.