The New Comiskey Park.

Sports Field Construction:The Class of

By Matthew Trulio

Bymost accounts, business has beensteady in the sports field construc-tion and renovation business during

the last year-and-a-half, despite the currentrecession. Credit the flux to increased de-mand for playing fields, a renewed focus onquality and aesthetics, or even sports turfliability issues (and when a million dollarfield may protect the knees of a $10 millionathlete, those issues become large indeed).The result is more top-notch facilities. Andthat's a good, healthy sign for field buildersand sports turf managers.

If a single trend or focus emerges fromthe fields of 1990-91, it is not a particulartype of field construction system, irrigationset-up, fertilizer program, or grass variety.B Golf & sport TURF

No new technology has broken from thepack to lead all others. What they do havein common, however, is a heavy emphasison drainage. All facilities in this articlelisted drainage as a key goal in their con-struction. This may be because a growingnumber of superintendents and groundsmanagers, who realize how drainage dra-matically affects turf health and day-to-dayfield playability, are getting involved in theconstruction of the fields they manage, atthe design level.

Here is an overview of a half-dozen fieldsat the collegiate and professional levels. Farfrom a complete list of all the natural turf(another growing trend) facilities con-structed in the last year-and-a-half, this ar-

1990 -

ticle chronicles only six high-quality, state-of-the-art fields. Many more top-notch dia-monds and gridirons were constructed in1990-1991. Undoubtedly, many more willfollow.University Of Florida: Quality WithinThe Budget

After a number of years with an artificialsurface in Hill Griffin Stadium-FloridaField, University of Florida, Gainesville of-ficials decided it was time for a change, buta change within their financial means. Theyreviewed several field systems before mak-ing their final decision.

"Economically speaking, the USGAsand-based field we put in at Hill GriffinStadium-Florida Field offered considerable

savings, relative to other fields," explainsMike Powell, project manager for the Uni-versity Athletic Association. lilt's also a con-servative, tried and true field system. II

Chuck Dixon of Turf Diagnostics andDesign, Dan Morgan, an agronomist, out ofTampa FL, and the Gainesville firm of Hen-derson, Quinn & Associates, consulted onthe project, working in conjunction withPowell. They chose bermuda 419 sod forthe 87,OOO-square-footjob. Given the site,drainage was paramount.

"Before the site became a stadium field,years ago, it was a pond," Powell explains."Drainage was a hot issue, because the sitehas a high-groundwater table. Withoutdrainage, there would always be standingwater on the field."

To solve the drainage problem, 5,400feet of under drain was installed, with 14runs approximately 20 feet apart. This intum was bedded in a ditch cross sectionfilled with crushed gravel.

"The other day, we had two inches ofrain here in about 40 minutes," Powellenthuses. "Fifteen minutes after if stopped,there was no standing water on the field."

The university also renovated two prac-tice fields less than a mile away from thestadium, but instead of sodding with ber-muda 419, they sprigged the entire 170,000square feet. Powell says they would havepreferred to sprig the stadium field, butaesthetic and time considerations prohib-

1991ited it. They also would have met USGAspecifications on the practice fields, hadsufficient funds been available. Still, Powellis quite pleased with the job they were ableto do, within their budget, on the practicefields.

"The fields were originally built in 1964,and one inch of rain would flood them out,"says Powell. IIWe removed the top nineinches of material, mixed nine inches offairly coarse sand with Dakota Reed SedgePeat, and topped it with three inches of finesand. We ended up with a very homoge-nous and even mix, with a flat percolationrate of 9-1/2 to 13 inches an hour."

Under drain, 6,200 square feet of it, wasinstalled under the practice fields. This is

"The bottom. linewith PAT is that

it's a proven,patented product. "

only 1,200 feet more than the amount in-stalled at the stadium field, which is lessthan half the size. IIYou don't have thegroundwater problem on the practice fieldsthat you do on the stadium field," Powellexplains.

The irrigation systems, using Toroequipment, were designed to be as unobtru-sive to the players as possible.

"On the stadium field, we used Toro640s in what is essentially a row of sevendown each hashmark, IIsays Powell. "On thesidelines, we used 650s, eight feet off thewall. Only two rows of heads are in bounds.I feel that's an important issue for football,and soccer as well."Ohio State Goes PAT

When Ohio State University decided itwas time to replace the aging artificialsurface at Ohio Stadium, they decided togo with a PAT (Prescription Athletic Turf)system. The system was installed at severalfields in 1991, including the University ofMichigan, the University of Alabama, andthe new ballpark for the Baltimore Orioles.

1I0ne of theprincipal featuresof the PAT systemis the use of vac-uum for positivemoisture extrac-tio n," explainsLaurel Mead, exec-utive vice presi-dent of PATTurfgrass Ser-vices. IIAll engi-neering of thesystem is done in-house by Turfgrass Ser-Vices, but the actual systems are installedby licensed PAT contractors."

Turf Services of Grand Haven, MI, in-stalled the PAT system at Ohio Stadium.IIBy all reports, the system is working welland everyone is extremely pleased," saysDavid Heiss, president of Turf Services. liltjust takes a little while for the field to settlein. After the first few games on a PAT,everything is fine."

PAT fields are completely flat, and get-ting them that way, particularly in the caseof a field renovation, can be difficult. How-ever, Ohio Stadium, says Heiss, was fairlylevel and did not pose much difficulty inthis regard.

Like all PAT fields, Ohio Stadium wasexcavated to a depth of 12 inches. A plasticliner was then installed, with a network ofdrainage tile above it. After the liner andtiles are installed, the excavation is back-filled with sand-in this case 5,000 tons of

it-and then the soil and amendments, irri-gation, and sod are installed.

A system of pumps underneath OhioStadium pulls water off the field. Bothvacuum pumps and discharge pumps wereinstalled. The system's electronics are alsohoused beneath the stadium, and the sys-tem can be completely automated by elec-tronically setting drainage and irrigationvalues.

Ohio State chose a bluegrass sod for thefield, which was evaluated by Dr. JohnStreet and Dr. Bill Pound before selection.Huber Ranch Sod of Snyder, IN, providedthe sod, a Kentucky bluegrass mix ofNorthrup-King Premium and Midnight.Since the sod's new home would be asand-based field, the fact that it was grownin sandy loam played a large role in itsselection.

The irrigation system includes Toro 640heads and moisture sensors. IIWemonitormoisture throughout the field," says KevinMiller, OSU's athletic field manager.

"When I deal with colleges and profes-sional teams, IIsays Heiss, "I saythat the bottomline with PAT isthat it's a proven,patented pro d-uct."Going Custom InKansas City

When the Kan-sas City Chiefs de-cided to build anew 450-x-450-

square-foot "athletic area," at the Harry S.Truman Sports Complex, designed by HOKSport Facilities Group, they turned to itshead groundskeeper, Chip Toma, Dr. JamesWatson, and Chuck Dixon, an agronomistand founder of Turf Diagnostics and Designin Olathe, KS. "It was like someone said,'Here, build the field of your dreams," saysToma.

"We call it an 'athletic area' for a rea-son," he continues. "What we mean by thatis you have enough area for two fields,either north-south or east-west. The field iscompletely uniform from ground level toroot mix, which reaches down 16 inches,which we felt was a better environment forbermuda and also had a little better gravitypull than a 12 inch mix. Having the fieldcompletely uniform makes it much easierto maintain."

The area's 80/20 root mix is made upof sand from Holiday Sand & Gravel in

continued on page 12August, 1991 11

From left: Scott Martin and Chip Toma show root development one week after sodding at theChiefs' Kansas City practice facility.

New Fieldscontinued (rom page 11

Kansas City and North Dakota Reed SedgePeat Holiday Sand & Gravel did the phys-ical mixing, based on a formulation createdby Toma and Dixon.

"We planned for drainage, not just now,but two or three years from now," Tomapoints out "Any field will eventually startto lose drainage because of compaction andaccumulated organic matter in the rootzone. That's why we have a complete aeri-fication program."

To get water onto the field) Toma andhis team chose a Toro irrigation system,designed by Joe Sheets of Champion Turfin Kansas City, with Toro 670 heads. Asidefrom the obvious goal of complete cover-age, Toma says he wanted the system to besimple.

"Honestly, we wanted to get away fromall the 'bells and whistles,' so to speak. Wewanted a system that anyone could easilyturn on and check, so we went with a realsimple controller.

"The system has a diamond pattern," hesays. "We added a large, high-pressure,high-volume pump so we'd be sure to haveplenty of pressure. We also considered afield warming system, but decided againstit since we have an indoor field and themanpower to cover this one if necessary."

The U-3 berrnudagrass they chose wasacquired from Green Acres Turf Farm inBixby, OK. They've since overseeded with12 Golf& sportTURF

PhD. ryegrass, which Toma says he can stillsee in the field.

The head groundskeeper emphasizesquality control as the key to the athleticarea's successful installation.

"I would be on the field at each stage,like when they were spreading the sand,"Toma recalls. "There was no way I wasgoing to miss anything. We had meetingson the field every day with the differentcontractors. You've got to make sure every-body is talking to everybody else. In all, itworked like a well-oiled machine!"Cleveland's Net Gain

David Frey, field maintenance directorof Cleveland Stadium, home of the Brownsand the Indians, took a diverse approach todirecting construction of four new practicefields for the Browns in Berea, OH. He useda variation of the USGAsystem.

"I'm not a sand field proponent-I'm notconvinced they work with northerngrasses," says Frey. "We used a USGA-typesystem on all of our fields, as an alternativeto all-sand fields. And we didn't use a fabricchoke layer-we used a gravel choke layer."

On the fourth field, they incorporatedNetlon. "The Netlon system consists of athree-dimensional fiber matrix in the top sixinches of the soil mix," Frey explains. "Itties itself together as the plants grow. Es-sentially, it gives you a tremendous amountof stability under traffic."

Kurtz Brothers of Independence, OH,did all the soil mixing and worked in acquir-

ing Netlon. Independence Construction, ofthe same town, performed the physical con-struction.

Four varieties of bluegrass were used toseed the fields: Midnight, Liberty, Bristol,and Eclipse. Seeding was Frey's first choicefrom the beginning.

"There's no doubt that if you can seed,you have the exact growing medium youwant," Frey emphasizes. "If you sod, youget somebody else's growing medium, un-less you wash the sod. Obviously, of course,time is a factor when you seed."

Hunter heads were used in the irrigationsystem. Each lateral can be controlled indi-vidually, and all valves are off the fields. Asfor drainage, Frey expects it to be "out ofthis world."

"We expect our percolation rate to befour to five inches per hour, depending onhow much turf cover we have," he says. "Ofcourse, the fields haven't been used yet. II

Play-All At ComiskeyOf all the fields constructed during the

last year-and-a-half, none has received morenational media attention than New Com-iskey Park. Designed by HOK, the facilityreplaces Comiskey Park, home of the Chi-cago White Sox since 1910. Tradition waseverywhere in the original park and manydie-hard Sox fans didn't take kindly to itsdemise. Others, tired of obstructed viewsand deteriorating facilities, welcomed it.

We wanted asystem that

anyone couldeasily turn on

and check, so wewent with a realsimple controller.

Although the Sox are playing on a newdiamond this year, some things haven'tchanged, like Roger Bossard, headgroundskeeper for Comiskey for the past25 years. Bossard, a third-generationgroundskeeper, directed construction ofthe diamond, which features a Play-Allfieldsystem. The system was designed byBossard in conjunction with Sportsflelds,Inc., of Blue Island, IL.

continued on page 14

New Fieldscontinued from page 14

"The New Comiskey field is sort of state-of-the-art," says Bossard. We ran 6,400 feetof four-by-six-inch drainage tiles on IS-footcenters. Around the tile, four inches above,two inches below, and two inches on theside, we put down birdseye gravel. Then weput down four inches of sand. In the topfour inches above that, we conditioned thearea with 66 yards of spagnum peat and 88tons of calcined clay fines."

Bossard and Sportsflelds started workon the field after it was brought to a "blue-top" condition, which means it was 12inches below grade with 95 percent com-paction. Still, because the new park wasconstructed in an area where buildingswere demolished, some unusual challengesarose during field construction."When weput in the drainage tile, we ran, into twoopen catch basins, a few brick walls, andeven an old street," Bossard reveals. "Wereplaced more than 40 carbide trencherbits."

To add durability to the infield and areaswhere players stand most often in the out-field, Bossard incorporated stabilization fi-bers into the field. Rather than putting the

Conwed fibers down at three inches, whichmany turfgrass researchers recommend, hehad the fibers installed six inches below thefield surface.

"If you have a good maintenance pro-gram, 90 percent of your roots will be inthe first three inches," says Bossard. "But Iwanted my feeder roots to stabilize, andthey go down deeper. If the plant isn'tstabilized at a six-inch depth, it won't bestabilized at a three-inch depth."

The diamond was sodded with a 12-month-old, eight-cultivar blend of four blue-grasses and four perennial ryegrasses fromEvergreen Sod of Peotone, IL. Bossard saysthat because of the accumulation of blends,the field is less susceptible to disease thanone with a single grass variety.

"It's not likely that you'd get a diseasethat would kill all eight blends," he says. "Iadded the ryegrass to the mix for its lightcolor, which really shows up when you'restriping."

The Sox and their head groundskeeperaren't the only traditions which moved tothe New Comiskey. Bossard and his crewbrought the old infield dirt, all 19 semitruck loads of it, to the new facility. They

moved it in layers, four inches at a time, andlaid it down in opposite order in which ithad been removed so the mix would remainthe same. To protect the newly sodded fieldfrom the weight of the trucks, they putdown four layers of geotextile and threelayers of 3/4-inch plywood. Even with thatprotection, 150 square yards of sod had toreplaced when the process was finished.

"We didn't move the infield dirt fornostalgia's sake," Bossard explains. "Be-sides, the players liked it And that's whatit's all about"

Pulling The Rug Out At Foxboro

If the 1990 season wasn't particularlykind to the New England Patriots, they cantake comfort in the fact that this year theywill be playing on a kinder, gentler homesurface at Foxboro Stadium in Foxboro,MA. Spearheaded by Patriots' CEO SamJankovich, the team and the stadium own-ers replaced their well-worn artificial sur-face with a GraviTURF Natural TurfAthletic System from Randall & Blake, Inc.,a landscape architecture and constructionfirm based in Littleton, CO.

The GraviTURF system is a gravity-drained, sand-based athletic field setup. It

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begins with perforated pipe drainage lines,which vary from four to 12 inches in diam-eter, depending on the drainage require-ments of the particular project. The pipe isthen bedded in pea gravel, and a warmingsystem is installed if requested, as in thecase of Foxboro.

After the warming system was installed,it was covered by a sand and peat mix. Thejob of making sure the sand and peat werecompatible went to Chuck Dixon of TurfDiagnostics and Design.

Although RBI generally prefers to seedfields, time constraints forced them tochoose sod for Foxboro. To help select thesod, as well as design the pre-plant andpost-plant fertilization program theyworked with Mark Altman of Altman &Altman, independent soil fertility specialistsbased in Marshall, MN.

After testing sods from a myriad offarms, they found what they were lookingfor at Gold Star Farms in Canterbury, NH.They chose a Kentucky bluegrass of 27percent Merit, 30 percent Ram, 20 percentGlade, and 23 percent Eclipse.

Altman's pre-plant fertilizer program, in-corporating biostimulants and foliar feed-ing, was implemented several weeks beforethe sod was harvested. After harvest, thesod was washed completely.

One of the main keys to the system, saysDan Almond, RBI's design/build managerand licensed landscape architect, is drain-age.

"We guarantee our percolation rates atfive inches per hour, but at Foxboro we'llprobably get a percolation rate in the rangeof six to eight inches per hour," Almondasserts. "According to tests we've donerecently at the Broncos practice facility[which also installed a GraviTURF system],the percolation rate there now is 6.2 inchesper hour."

To protect and maintain their new field,the Patriots and Foxboro's managers hiredPierre Landry as field superintendent. The29-year~ld from Rochester, NY, has a de-gree in plant and soil science from theUniversity of Massachusetts and was pre-viously an assistant superintendent at Mon-roe Golf Club in Pittsford, NY,and AndoverCountry Club in Andover, PA. He was rec-ommended for the Foxboro job by RBI.

"I've worked with USGA sand-basedgreens, so I have a good idea about theirirrigation and fertilization needs," he says.

The Awards are sponsored by BeamClay, the Sports Turi ManagersAssociation, and Golf & Sports-TURF magazine. One winnerwill be chosen for each ofthree categories: Professional Diamonds,College and University Diamonds, and Diamonds at Schools,Parks or Municipal Complexes. The winners will be featured inGolf & sportsTURF magazine and will receive an impressive plaqueto hang in their offices.

Send the information below to enter:1. Age of baseball diamond and brief history.2. Details on turfgrass, infield dirt, irrigation, lighting etc.3. Description of maintenance program.4. Operating budget for field maintenance.5. Size of maintenance staff.6. Number of baseball games on diamond per year.7. Other uses of field.8. Number of months of operation per year.9. Include two sets of color slides or prints of the diamond.

Deadline for entries: Entries must be postmarked no later thanNovember 30, 1991. Selection of winners will be made by a panel (\t

four Major League head groundskeepers.

Mail Entrys to:Beam Clay Award Soor1s~Golf & sportsTURF Mag. TmfiL'lliMMP.O. Box 8420 Manager's ~iation

Van Nuys, CA 91409

"The stress on this field is going to bedifferent than it is on a golf green-it's morephysical than environmental.

"I think the biggest challenge is goingto be satisfying the needs of coaches andplayers, in terms of game conditions andallowing them on the field," Landry contin-ues. "Of course, I want to keep them off itas much as possible [between games], butit's their field and they're going to want topractice on it."

"We'll work it out by developing agood relationship where understand eachother's needs."

YOU COULDWIN!

If you are proud of your baseball diamondand what you and your staff haveaccomplished with it, you could win theBeam Clay Baseball Diamond of the YearAward. We are looking for three excellentfacilities that exemplify the best in baseball.

Into The '90s

Six fields, six systems, six (we hope)success stories. How these and the manyother fields constructed in the last year-and-a-half will fare may depend as much onmaintenance as it does on design and tech-nology. Judging from the designers, build-ers, and field managers who wereinterviewed for this article, the push forhigh-quality natural playing fields, at alllevels, is growing. And like the intensefocus on proper drainage, that's good forthe entire sports turf industry. 0

sprAiTHRfTHE PROFESSIONAlS CHOICE

SINCE 1922

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