How Tottenham are using robots to keep their football pitch in top condition after NFL fixtures

Tottenham Hotpsur have gone to great lengths to ensure their season is not disrupted after hosting two NFL games during the international break.

The new £1billion stadium was the venue for the Oakland Raiders’ upset victory over the Chicago Bears , with the Carolina Panthers mauling the Tampa Bay Buccaneers soon after.

Getty Images - Getty 2 Every detail at the new Tottenham Hotspur ground is attended to

But despite the intense schedule, the pitch is looking absolutely pristine ahead of Tottenham’s clash with Watford on Saturday, live on talkSPORT 2.

That is because Spurs built their new arena specifically to cater for both sports, with the grass field used for football retractable and able to replaced by an artificial turf underneath for NFL games.

And the Premier League side have shown just how they manage to keep the football pitch in such tip-top shape when it is hidden away, with a video posted on their social media account reveaing they use high-tech driverless lawn mowers to cut the grass.

Nine autonomous professional auto-mowers maintain the football pitch underneath the South Stand, with ground staff programming the machines to cover every blade of grass.

It is the first ground of its kind in the UK to have two pitches inside the same bowl and the world’s first dividing retractable football pitch.

The real turf football pitch sits 1.6metres above the NFL surface and is in three pitch-long trays, each weighing more than 3,000 tonnes.

It breaks up into three parts and retracts under the South Stand to reveal the artificial surface underneath with the sidelines being lowered to the same level.

The problem Tottenham had to overcome was two 49 metre tall steel trees that hold up the South Stand.

That is when the concept for the retractable pitch that splits into three parts was thought up. It takes approximately 25 minutes for it to switch from one surface to another.

Getty Images - Getty 2 Derek Carr (No.4) was particularly impressed with the facilities at Spurs

However, it has been a huge hit with the travelling contingent from across the pond, with Raiders quarter-back Derek Carr praising the intricacy of the care taken to ensure everything was in order.

“Everything here is nice,” Carr said as he walked into the press room after stepping out of the purpose built locker rooms.

“Everything was just so first class, every little detail. And every single room you go in is unbelievable.

“This is definitely one of, if not the best, stadiums I’ve ever been at in my life,” he continued.

“We had the opportunity to sit up in the Chairman’s box for a soccer match [between Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich]. We walked in; there was a fireplace like I’ve never seen before in my life. It looked fake.”

Saturday is GameDay on talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2 as we bring you THREE live Premier League commentaries across our network, including Tottenham vs Watford at 3pm