Your Expertise is Needed for Sports Field Cost Analysis Study

By WCTA Staff

Dear Field Managers and Turf Professionals,

With $15,000 in funding from the Western Canada Turfgrass Association and in collaboration with Dr. Chase Straw of Penn State University, Dr. Chengyan Yue of the University of Minnesota is launching a comprehensive survey to collect data on field usage, installation and maintenance costs.

Titled ‘Cost Analysis for Natural Grass and Artificial Turf Fields’, these data-driven insights will help shape the future of sports field management by providing decision-makers critical information influencing choices between natural grass and artificial turf fields.

Background
While there exists some cost data showing the difference between natural grass and artificial turf sports fields, the information is mostly outdated and urgently needs updating.  This study aims to address this gap by leveraging the expertise of field managers, maintenance staff and/or construction companies across a wide spectrum of field types and geographic locations.  

By extension, the WCTA realizes this information can be used to create a tool/guide for determining maximum permissible field use hours.  Imposing use limits is challenging because universally accepted and objective standards taking into account myriad variables such as field type, geographic location, climate, construction materials and methods, use patterns, maintenance programs and many more, does not exist.

We do know that preventing overuse is critical to ensuring natural grass sports fields consistently perform at acceptable levels for playability/safety and that when field demand exceeds its recovery threshold, field quality degrades to the point where even the best agronomic practices cannot maintain sufficient and acceptable turf quality.  

On the subject, between 2010 and 2014, Dr. Brian Holl made some efforts toward quantifying permissible use hours however the research was directed more toward comparing costs/functionality of natural versus synthetic fields than specifically determining how much use a particular field can handle.  

In 2021, the OTRF and Sports Turf Canada joined forces releasing ‘Usage Goals for Winning Sports Turf’, a guide aimed at gaining additional insights into sports field performance based on permitted hours however the 2-page fact sheet was developed using data from 24 irrigated fields within the City of Toronto and arguably, is not representative on a wider scope.

Your help is needed!
Participants will be asked to submit data on the use and cost factors of both natural and synthetic fields including installation and maintenance costs, hours of use, life cycle, replacement costs, etc.  Your expertise and data will be added to the knowledge bank while making this study relevant for Canadian sportsfield managers.  Results will help decision-makers choose the best options for field safety, playability and cost.

Simply respond via email by end of business on Friday, May 9th to WCTA Executive Director Jerry Rousseau with the subject line ‘Your Expertise is Needed for Sports Field Cost Analysis Study’.  We will pass your contact information along to the researchers for follow-up over the coming months.

Thanks in advance for your assistance with this valuable initiative!