FACILITY & OPERATIONS
18 SportsTurf | December 2016 www.sportsturfonline.com
SportsTurf: Did you have to work around non-football
events on the field this summer and if so, how did you
protect the field from any damage?
Hathaway: A lot of people hear Sports Authority Field
and Mile High and think Denver Broncos football. That
is a small portion of what we host on the field during
the year. We also host the major league lacrosse team
CATCHING UP
WITH CHRIS
HATHAWAY OF
THE DENVER
BRONCOS
SportsTurf: How did the hot and dry summer affect your
maintenance plan heading into this season?
Hathaway: The weather is always tricky to work around
throughout the year. This summer was a little warmer than
average and the rain fall was also short of our normal totals for
the summer months. One of my big priorities throughout the
year is planning. I try to plan a week or so ahead for weather
and events on the field. That will determine how much we water;
when we will water the field depends on the weather and what
events are on the field that week. It was a dry summer for us so
we needed to give the field more water than normal this summer.
We rebuilt the field in February 2015 and being a sand base
field it drains really well. It does not hold as much water as our
old field did. We are also a bluegrass sports field as well and
bluegrass needs more water than some of the other cool-season
grasses. We try to give the field the water it needs to survive but
we are also trying to conserve water as best as we can.
