SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) Notre Dame will break with tradition and replace the grass surface at the stadium known as the "House Rockne Built" and install artificial surface before the upcoming football season.

Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said the university would have preferred to stay with natural grass, but said field conditions in recent years made the change necessary.

"I was looking for a way to see if we could still do it, but I reached the conclusion, between the end of last season and this that we really couldn't," he said.