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: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/141613
Facility&Operations BEAUTY SHOT of Jordan Hare Stadium, home of the Auburn Tigers. not so convenient for maintaining the natural grass fields located to the north and west of the building. To make things even more interesting, the practice field to the west of the indoor facility also has a tree line on the opposite side of the field creating morning shade by the building and afternoon shade by the trees. Irrigation zones are designed so that areas of adequate sunlight can be watered differently than shaded areas. Due to the angle of the sun, shade lines extend the farthest onto the fields in the winter and result in a poor stand of bermudagrass each spring. To determine the best strategies and/or bermudagrass variety for maintaining turf in the shade, the grounds crew has turned to the Auburn University Turfgrass Program for help. Auburn graduate student, Philipe Aldahir, is working on his second year of a research project testing bermudagrass varieties under different levels of shade, traffic, and overseeding to determine the best fit for the football practice fields at Auburn. MORE HAPPENING ON THE FIELDS For collegiate level turfgrass managers, the saying goes that "everything you see at the professional level will eventually trickle downhill." While game days are still the first priority, college football stadiums have evolved into multi-use facilities. At Auburn, the turf crew has witnessed several additional events at Jordan Hare Stadium. The field has been the venue for concerts, grad- 26 SportsTurf | July 2013 uation ceremonies, autograph sessions, a finish line for 10K and half-marathon races, movie nights, television commercials, high school playoff games, and most recently, Café Jordan Hare. For the 2012 football season, fans were allowed to attend three Friday night gourmet dinners on the field before the Saturday home game. The setup included tables, chairs, leather couches, serving lines, bars, grills, a jazz band, and the kitchen sink. The restaurant was purposefully set up on the home team sideline to allow turf damage to be covered by the sideline tarp each Saturday. The main challenge was moving all the furniture and food without damaging the turf. The turf crew started painting the field earlier in the week so that all paint was dry by lunch for the Friday restaurant setup. Irrigation was also adjusted to prevent rutting the turf while moving furniture for the dinner. Designs have been pro- Left: CAFÉ JORDAN HARE, serving Friday nights before Tiger home games! Right: CELEBRATING AUBURN'S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP in 2010. www.sportsturfonline.com