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/726375
FACILITY & OPERATIONS 28 SportsTurf | October 2016 www.sportsturfonline.com COST AND PLAYABILITY ANALYSIS OF SYNTHETIC INFILL AND NATURAL GRASS FIELDS IN OREGON ■ BY B.L. DAVISCOURT, A.R. KOWALEWSKI, J.G. LAMBRINOS, B. ELEVELD, AND M. GOULD The Turfgrass Resource Center suggests that installation costs of synthetic fields range from $850,000 to $1,000,000 at $7.80 to $10.75 per sq. ft. They also suggest installation of a sand-based natural grass field ranges from $350,000 to $500,000 at $6.50 to $7.95 per sq. ft. However, the Sports Turf Managers Association prices synthetic infill systems at $6.50 to $11 per sq. ft., and conventional sand-based fields at $7 to $10 per sq. ft. Case studies on annual maintenance would suggest that the amount spent on maintenance varies greatly with the level of athletics being supported. This makes it difficult to compare annual maintenance costs. Previous investigations have found that annual maintenance costs of natural grass systems ranges from $5,500 to $48,960. Annual maintenance on synthetic infill systems ranges from $5,000 to $29,000. Resurfacing a synthetic field consists of removal and disposal of old carpet and infill material, additions of new material, and labor. In communication with local contractors the cost of resurfacing a synthetic infill system has been estimated to be $4.00 per sq. ft. for material and labor. The Synthetic Turf Council ranges the cost of transporting and landfilling the product from $30,000 to $60,000 for an 80,000 sq. ft. field ($0.38 to $0.75 per sq. ft.). For this study $.56 sq. ft. ($45,000/80,000 sq. ft.) was used to calculate disposal of synthetic infill material. These installation and maintenance costs for synthetic infill and natural turfgrass systems have primarily been provided by industry sources and commodity groups. They were also not expansive enough to include the practice of resurfacing for either natural turfgrass or synthetic infill fields at multiple locations, or for facilities of different athletic levels in the same analysis. Another unexplored aspect in the literature is hours of player use. The question here is, "How many maintenance dollars are being used to provide an hour of use for an individual?" Therefore, the objectives of this study were to: 1) compare the cost of installation and maintenance across a 20-year period, and 2) establish and compare a cost-per- hour of player use value for natural turfgrass and synthetic infill athletic fields. T here have been several investigations into the costs associated with installing and maintaining synthetic infill and natural turfgrass systems. However, no studies have been in depth enough to include a cycle that goes beyond the warrantee period of a synthetic infill field or include the product of maintenance, number of provided hours of use, in the cost analysis. The objectives of this study were to compare the cost of installation and maintenance across a 20-year period and establish and compare a cost-per-hour of player use value for natural turfgrass and synthetic infill athletic fields. Field budget, maintenance practice, and hours of use data was collected on five natural grass and five synthetic infill fields from field and maintenance managers and directors, athletic directors, field reservation schedules, and player rosters. The average costs of installation and maintenance for natural grass fields were $325,000 and $27,000 while the average costs of installation, maintenance, and resurfacing for synthetic infill fields were $1,212,000, $7,000, and $377,000. Only one of the five natural grass fields was resurfaced or planned to be resurfaced and it cost $21,600. The average costs of the 20-year budget cycle and of providing a single hour of use for natural grass fields were $903,000 and $2.18 while the synthetic infill costs were $1,902,000 and $2.15. These results support the idea that synthetic fields are able to be just as cost effective as natural grass fields, despite their larger costs, by providing greater amounts of player-use hours. During the 1970's and 1980's synthetic turf surfaces started being installed in only a few premier high schools, universities, and professional stadiums. Today the Synthetic Turf Council believes there are currently over 8,000 synthetic multi-use fields in the United States. Part of the reason for this rise in popularity is the ability for the fields to be heavily scheduled with multiple consecutive events with little risk of reducing the longevity of the field. Play on synthetic surfaces is not restricted by weather. There is also belief that the low maintenance associated with synthetic fields balance out the high costs of installation. These assumptions contribute to the popularity of synthetic fields have also sparked a common debate today over the costs associated with natural turfgrass and synthetic infill.