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/77829
season wears on. He uses a color coding sys- tem to keep track of the turf sections. "The goal is to give our players fresh grass every week. Ninety percent of football is played between the hashes," says Smith. "With this system, I can easily rotate out the middle when it sees too much wear. It's one of the reasons NFL players consistently rank us as one of the top fields." Moving the trays into the stadium is an 8-10 hour process that uses five flatbed trucks and a fleet of forklifts. Once inside, the venue serves as a micro-climate that gives Brandon some unique options. "When we're inside, I can close the roof >> A COTTON BOWL maintenance crew member prepares the field for a soccer match between Cruz Azul and Club America, two top teams from Mexico. A MOVING EXPERIENCE IN HOUSTON When plans for Reliant Stadium in Hous- ton were first developed in the late 1990s, designers developed an ingenious turf sys- tem that allows the grounds maintenance crew to move natural grass in and out of the stadium to accommodate a wide variety of events. The mobile turf system makes Re- liant Stadium one of the most versatile ven- ues in the country and allows the turf to recover faster, providing a world-class play- ing surface for the NFL's Houston Texans. don Smith and his team work with 8 x 8- foot puzzle pieces of turf that reside in 2,700 trays. The 173,000 square feet of turf spends most of its time outside in the Re- liant Stadium parking lot. Each tray has an 8-inch sand profile, a layer of geotextiles, plastic and burlap on the bottom for circu- lation and water filtration. The trays are also equipped with forklift channels on the bottom, which promote air circulation. Brandon grows more than two full fields outside so he can rotate in fresh grass as the Sports fields & grounds manager Bran- if we see rain coming or turn up the air conditioning to condition the air and dry the surface," says Brandon. "We water, roll and mow inside the stadium. I can pretty much do everything except aerify and verti- cut inside the stadium. I actually prefer to overseed inside because there's no wind and I get better seed distribution." "These sports field managers are truly unsung heroes of the game," says Ron Luber, vice president at Luber Bros., the Ja- cobsen dealer based in Dallas. "They put so much hard work, creativity and dedication into managing professional turfgrass in one of the harshest climates in the country. We're proud to support these customers who present some of the greatest playing surfaces in the world." ■ >> Below left: A MAINTENANCE CREW MEMBER for the Houston Texans mows the playing surface in the parking lot outside of Reliant Stadium, where the field spends most its time. Behind the field is the Houston Astrodome. >> Below right: A fleet of forklifts position trays of turf to prepare for a Hous- ton Texans home game. Brandon Smith, Sports Fields & Ground Manager for Reliant Stadium, manages a total of 2,700 8 x 8-foot squares of TifSport. After the game, the squares return to the parking lot where they are maintained until the next home game. www.stma.org SportsTurf 31