SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/26719
Facility&Operations The crown jewel of the complex is the 11,000-person capacity stadium, featuring a few other “firsts.” The video scoreboard is the largest Spring Training board in baseball, measuring 24-by-48 feet and featuring LED technology. Also, the positioning of the field and the roof structure ensures that 85% of the seating bowl will be in shade by the late innings. As the owners are targeting a LEED Silver rating, ASLA award-winning Ten Eyck Landscape Architects de- signed the landscaping surrounding the complex to reduce the amount of concrete and asphalt, using more natural materials in- spired by the tribal heritage. The teams are the last holdouts to move up from Tucson to the metro Phoenix area from Tucson. The building of this complex fur- ther solidifies the Phoenix area as the epicenter of professional base- ball facilities, with more of them located in a metro area than anywhere in the world. It is estimated that the Cactus League gener- ates $359 million in revenue for the state. While spring training tourism dollars are critical to the Arizona economy, the pressure the Great Recession has put on an already strained tax budget, made the spectacular investment needed to build such a facility nearly impos- sible to come by. This perhaps is the most incredible “first,” a $100 million complex built tax-free in a down economy—thanks to the two tribes. A TALE OF TWO GROUNDSKEEPERS While the official groundbreaking took place in November 2009, the specific field design was not completed until March 2010. The field design process was unique in itself. Rather than 36 SportsTurf | March 2011 simply offering input and consultation, two MLB head groundskeepers came together to essentially lead the field design process. For the Rockies’ Mark Razum and Diamondbacks’ Grant Trenbeath, this felt like déjà vu on a grand scale. In 1994, their groundskeeping paths originally crossed, just miles away from the new complex, when Razum designed the practice fields for the Oakland A’s Spring Training site. Trenbreath, an up and coming groundskeeper, took over on the construction after Razum left to take the head position with the Rockies. Flash forward 16 years, the two collaborated on the field design and material selection for the 12 practice fields, stadium field, and bullpen areas. Razum recounted the first time the two discussed the project. “We could have been rivals working for different clubs, but we decided to work as a team toward the same goal, and try to keep things uniform throughout the entire complex.” Razum agreed with Trenbeath when he said, “These fields were designed to be truly professional in every element.” This is true for the elements that are seen, as well as the unseen. At first glance, one may think that the two were preparing for large rain events with the 12 inches of amended sand rootzone over 4-inch gravel drainage layer on top of drain lines, but another motivation is hidden just under the surface. The name Salt River Fields pays homage to the Native American community’s relationship with the Salt River, which is exactly what its name suggests. The dry climate and soil composition has led to a build up of salts in the area’s groundwater and waterways. The drainage system was designed to quickly evacu- ate these salts out of the rootzone. Installation began on this first www.sportsturfonline.com Photo by Jon Willey