PASADENA, Calif. — Once Ohio State and Oregon are finished playing in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, the grass will be cut down to its nubs and a new field will be rolled out for Alabama and Texas to play on next Thursday in the Bowl Championship Series title game.

Darryl Dunn, the Rose Bowl’s general manager, said stadium officials considered patching any rough spots in the field after the Rose Bowl game and then repainting new logos in the end zones and at midfield.

But with so many variables that could affect the field condition — particularly if there is any rain — Dunn decided the safest bet was to bring in a new field, which cost $150,000. After the B.C.S. game, the field would be rolled back up and discarded, allowing the original turf to regenerate.

Two weeks ago, Dunn got a call from David Andres, who last year began taking turf and dirt from baseball stadiums, which he packaged and sold to fans and collectors. He was sure there was a market for national championship turf, particularly for universities with such rabid fans as Alabama and Texas.

The day after the game, approximately 75,000 3-inch square pieces of turf will be harvested from each end zone, and another 50,000 will be taken from the midfield logo. They will be sold for anywhere between $99.99 and $134.99. If there is a memorable play in the game — a David Tyree-like catch, for example — that turf may also find its way to market.

Andres said each player on the Alabama and Texas rosters will be given a piece of grass, which will be encased in a box that includes a photo and statistics from the game. How many customers he’ll have is unclear at this point.

“We’ve never done this before, so we don’t know what the market is,” said Andres, who signed a contract with the Rose Bowl Operating Company on Wednesday night.

The Rose Bowl Operating Company will get a percentage of each piece of grass that is sold, which could net several million dollars, Andres said. The universities will also get a cut.

Dunn, who has spent much of the last year searching for new revenue streams that will help finance a proposed $164 million renovation project for the Rose Bowl, may have had one fall into his lap.

But he is more cautious.

“This is a first-time effort,” he said. “If we exceed $100,000, we’d be very happy.”

By BILLY WITZ