Tackling Athletic Fields: Sports Turf

In sports turf, the first concern is the safety of the athletes. "A level playing field" isn’t just an expression; it’s a necessity. The second issue is playability. This requires dense, well-rooted turf to provide solid footing for the twists and turns of the players and cushioning for their falls. Aesthetics becomes an issue only after safety and playability are achieved.

"Sports field maintenance is a different ball game," said Jon Cundiff, president, Turf’s Up Lawn Service/Weed Man, Lee’s Summit, Mo. "The level of care is more intensive than the most demanding commercial maintenance account. It takes a solid grounding in all aspects of turf management, including soils and agronomics, a knowledge of different turfgrass types and growth patterns, an understanding of irrigation, weed, insect and disease problems, and climatic influences. While all of these pieces come into play in standard maintenance programs, with sports field maintenance they’re more critical because the turf must withstand the stress of athletic activity."

Despite their common use, fields can offer different challenges. For example, athletic field’s soil profile may indicate native soil, amended native soil or sand-based. There are wide variations in the mix of components within each of these three basic soil profiles, all of which affect water infiltration and percolation rates, drainage and compaction issues, and turfgrass performance.

Fields might utilize internal drainage systems, crowning to assist in surface drainage or a combination of both options. The maintenance program must adapt to fit specific field conditions. Any combination of these fields could be part of a single high school, college or park system.

The non-turf segment of baseball and softball fields - the home plate area, pitchers mound and basepath area - present a totally different maintenance challenge.

"While the program must be developed to fit all these factors, event scheduling is the controlling factor in athletic field maintenance," Cundiff pointed out. "When the field will be used, how often, by whom and for what purpose, combined with the facility budget, determine the field design and construction parameters including the soil profile and grass type."

Because of the ever-growing demand for on-field practice and play, field schedules are packed. Use begins as early as weather allows in the spring and continues until late fall or early winter in the North. Field use may be year-round in warmer climates. Renovations and the more invasive maintenance practices, such as core aeration, must take place during the breaks in event scheduling, which may not be the best timing agronomically.

Despite these challenges, or maybe because of them, there are several different ways for a lawn service company to provide athletic field services.

THE TURF’S UP PLAN. Cundiff spent nearly five years working on the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs grounds crew before starting his lawn care business 15 years ago. Turf’s Up provides turf maintenance and tree and shrub treatments. Approximately 85 percent of the company’s accounts are residential, 10 percent are commercial, and 5 percent are sports fields.

"Our company is focusing more on targeted services than complete sports field maintenance," Cundiff said. "We see the wave toward more outsourcing of fertilization, control treatments and some aeration and seeding within the school district fields. We also see potential business in the move toward Bermudagrass fields, which demand a different maintenance schedule than cool-season grasses, with a much more aggressive summer maintenance program."

The company maintained the Kansas City Wizards soccer team’s practice facility for three years, handling full maintenance, field lining and resodding. The Wizards moved last year and the company continued maintaining the field for two college teams.

"The existing field is sand-based, has an in-ground irrigation system and Bermuda-grass turf," Cundiff described. "We’re looking at conversions of the other fields to similar conditions."

THE ONESOURCE PROGRAM. Ron Schmoyer, president, OneSource Landscape & Golf Services, Tampa, Fla., said sports turf management was a natural fit for his company. He noted that the expertise available in the industry allowed for a seamless service addition for the organization.

The company’s first sports field account was a baseball field in Tampa where only spray applications were performed. Gradually, the company added more fields and expanded services, including complete maintenance of a few fields in West Palm Beach, Fla.

OneSource provides a complete maintenance program for all playing surfaces, skinned areas, game and practice fields, surrounding green spaces and parking lots on the baseball spring training facilities of the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds. "This level of maintenance requires full-time, onsite personnel," Schmoyer said. "We have employees whose only job with us is to report to these facilities every day."

On facilities such as the Yankees’ and Reds’ fields, which were maintained by in-house personnel, OneSource presents management with a comprehensive maintenance package that describes the value of outsourcing for their organization.

"We can show on paper and in action that, because of our specialized focus, we can save them money and improve the quality of the facility," Schmoyer explained. "We also note that we’ll make every effort to integrate their current employees into our program. Once an agreement is reached, we meet with their employees and explain our organization, rules, policies and procedures and benefits. Because of the size and scope of our operation, we can offer greater opportunities for advancement either within the sports turf division or in other divisions. When we took over management for the Yankees and the Reds it was a fairly seamless move."

For OneSource, sports field management accounts are multiplying. They maintain all of the sports fields in Thomasville, Ga., and work with The Villages in Leesburg, Fla.

"We believe outsourcing of sports field maintenance is a trend that will continue to grow because it provides value for the organization," Schmoyer pointed out. "We also think our competition in this area will be the in-house operations, whether it’s a municipal, state-run or professional organization.

"It’s a marketing adventure because it’s an educational process for the potential customer, but we’re willing to commit the time and resources for that," he continued. "We’re very open about the arrangements we’ve made with our current clients and invite potential clients to contact anyone involved to see how the transition went. That helps establish a comfort zone so they’re able to seriously consider our proposal."

THE TRUGREEN LANDCARE PLAN. Ron Kirkpatrick, sports turf manager, TruGreen LandCare, San Diego region, Calif., said the company started its sports turf division in 1995.

Today, the company works with high school-level football and soccer field renovations and maintains several different college fields, working with both sand-based and native soil fields.

Kirkpatrick offers an athletes’ perspective to the company’s sports field work, but he said there is still a learning curve behind this progress. "Sports field care is a continual learning process," he said. "Besides all the turf and agronomic issues, it’s important to know the rules governing each of the sports, the proper field dimensions, layouts and lining. Also, anyone considering expanding into the sports turf area should be aware of the money it takes to get involved. For our company, the initial investment in equipment alone was approximately $200,000."

The company lays out the maintenance program for every field it works with, whether the project is construction, renovation, consultation or maintenance.

"When we’ve made a major renovation and the existing staff will be handling the maintenance, we also work with them to be sure they understand the program and that it must be carried out," Kirkpatrick said. "Sports turf isn’t forgiving. The maintenance program functions best when it’s consistently worked. Then problems are small ones that can be solved. A major mistake will set back the program and may destroy what has been accomplished in the renovation."

TIME TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE? Cundiff, Schmoyer and Kirkpatrick all agree the sports turf market is filled with potential business. They also recommend that contractors considering this move learn as much about the industry as possible, thoroughly analyze the existing market situation in their own area and assess their company’s own strengths and weaknesses before taking a swing at sports business.