Turf Fields vs. Natural Grass

Are turf fields really cost effective? Do they really help athletes perform or are they just for looks? In the forever changing world of sports and growing number of turf field at school comes the price tag many schools can’t swallow. Is the money well spent? Are athletic departments really benefiting from these fields? Turf fields are the number one growing type of field in the U.S replacing the old traditional grass field. This blog will focus on the cost of new synthetic turf fields versus the cost of naturally grass fields. It will also focus on the maintenance and upkeep of these fields over a 10 year period.

Natural grass fields cost on average $570,000 to implement from new,  on average of $20,000 a year for maintenance and $200,000 over a ten year span for upkeep.2 Grass fields typically last around 8 years at tiptop shape and tend to deteriorate once past that. The upkeep for a grass field is much more tedious than that of a turf field and is limited to the amount of playing time it can handle. However grass fields are less to repair than that of turf. Most times grass fields can be replaced in sections by resodding instead of replacing the entire field.

Item	Natural Grass	Turf
Base Preparation:	$150,000	$320,000
Materials:	$220,000	$380,000
Maintenance:	$200,000	$50,000
Total:	$570,000	$750,000

Synthetic turf fields cost on average $750,000 to implement from new and cost on average $5,000 a year and $50,000 over a ten year span for upkeep.2 Turf fields typically last around 10 years at full life until they’re needing major renovations or replacement. The maintenance per year is typically less tedious than that of its counterpart. However, turf fields when needing repairs are more costly than natural grass resodding. Turf fields allow schools to host more games and to bring in more revenue. There are typically no restrictions on how many times a turf field can be played on during a season.

At what cost do we stop paying for these gigantic venues and how do you think taxpayers are responding? We all know that in Texas sports are everything, especially football. Those Friday night lights in a small town where everything closes down to fill some of the best facilities across the country. These gigantic stadiums come at an enormous price tag, not just for the turf itself but the actual entire facility. With new state of the art sporting arenas costing anywhere between $30 million to $300 million to build, huge financial investments must be made. According to an article published by The Sports Journal “there are many options in financing sport and recreation facilities than involve both public and private arrangements and investments.”1  “Funding may be separated into two distinct groups; public funding and private funding. Public funding may included but may not be limited to taxes, municipal bonds, certificates of participation, and special authority bonds. Private funding may include but may not be limited to, cash donations, contributions, naming rights, concessionaire/restaurant rights, sponsorships, lease agreements, luxury and preferred seating, parking fees, advertising, and gifts shops revenues. Other ways of financing in order to spread the enormous costs of building a state of the art sporting facility is that projects have been partnered in joint public and private funding. Often, the public funding is in the form of land contributions or luxury taxes and the private contributions are reflected within the facility itself.”1

Everything's bigger in Texas, I guess we have to make it that way in our sports venues. I’ll let you decide which one is better than the other. Cost vs Appeal, Cost vs. Safety. Which one is your pick?  

1The Sports Journal (2008, February 16). Financing Options and Facility Development. The Sport Journal http://thesportjournal.org/article/financing-options-and-facility-development/

3 SportsTurf (N.A.) Natural Grass vs Synthetic Turf Athletic Field Costs: Part 5. http://www.texasmultichem.com/blog/natural-grass-vs-synthetic-turf-athletic-field-costs-part-5.html

2ttp://www.wellesleyma.gov/pages/WellesleyMA_SpragueResources/Turf%20vs.%20Natural%20Grass-Cost%20Analysis.pdf