Wear and soil compaction are the major cause for turfgrass stress in maintaining athletic field turf. While there have been numerous studies to evaluate these factors separately, few studies have been conducted to assess which of these two factors have the greatest influence on plant stress and what is the effect of their interaction. A field study was established on a native silt loam and sand rootzone matrix in 2004 at the Joseph Troll Research Center, University of Massachusetts. The compaction treatments were applied using a Vibro-Tamper prior to seeding the plots. The plots were seeded with a mixture of Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass on September 14, 2004. The treatments were set out in a randomized complete block design with three replications in both soils. The establishment rate through the fall 2004 was significantly reduced on the compacted plots over both soils with most of the reduction in percent cover associated with the sand rootzone matrix. Late fall/winter color was significantly better on the non-compacted treatment compared with the compacted plots in the silt loam while the reverse in color was observed with plants growing in the sand rootzone. Soil compaction was measured with a cone penetrometer on October 7, 2004 and April 20, 2005. The penetrometer values were significantly greater on the compacted versus the non-compacted treatments although they were two orders of magnitude greater on the silt loam compared to the sand rootzone matrix.