by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
There is a possibility that the turf at the new baseball park won’t be natural grass. There’s an even more remote, but possible, chance that Alltel Stadium may one day have synthetic turf instead of bermudagrass.
Bob Downey, the general manager of SMG — the management company that handles Alltel and Wolfson Park — would like Better Jacksonville officials to at least consider using either fuelturf or nexturf as the playing surface for the Jacksonville Suns when the new ball park opens in 2003.
“It’s really just me as much as anybody,” said Downey, stressing that he is not pushing the City, the Jacksonville Suns or the Jaguars to go with a synthetic surface. He just wants it to be considered. “Since nothing has been done so far, I think it’s worth evaluating the two surfaces. Natural grass is appealing for baseball and it’s nice to go to the park and see that. But, there’s a pretty good cost for maintaining that grass. And, it limits your ability to do other kinds of events.”
The City has not made a decision one way or the other, but Mayor John Delaney’s chief of staff, Audrey Moran, said the possibility of using a synthetic is not out of the question.
“We don’t know what to do yet,” said Moran. “It’s not a question of cost. We are looking at the pros and cons of both sides. We are going to staff it, but we do not have to make the decision this week. It’s a far out decision.”
The Jaguars acknowledged that they have discussed the matter with Downey and may look into testing a synthetic surface in several places, but not on the actual field of play yet.
“It’s something we have obviously talked about and discussed with SMG,” said Bill Prescott, vice president and chief financial officer for the Jaguars. “We may experiment with some type of turf in places like where the cheerleaders stand and possibly, down the road, on one of the practice fields. We have had this discussion and we are obviously interested in a synthetic surface not just for Alltel, but also for the practice fields.”
Prescott said he is aware that several NFL teams have switched to a high-tech synthetic surface, but the overall verdict is still out on the turf.
“Sports turf, field turf is a relatively new product,” said Prescott. “There is a little bit of a wait and see attitude.”
Downey contends that using a synthetic surface similar to what the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles and Seattle Seahawks all play on would go hand-in-hand with what the City has planned for the new ball park.
“It’s being billed as a multi-use facility,” said Downey of the park and City officials’ plans to use it for such things as concerts in addition to baseball.
The issue has come to light thanks to a recent briefing from baseball park project manager Wayne Boy to the Sports & Entertainment Board. Ron Salem, chairman of the SEB, said Boy indicated the type of turf that would be used at the ball park was up for debate.
“There has been some discussion as to what type of turf to use,” said Salem. “We [the SEB] went on record to support natural grass. There was some concern from SMG as to whether artificial turf would be better. Their contention is you can get other uses out of the park that would make it easier if it was artificial turf.”
Moran said City and Better Jacksonville officials were well aware of the SEB’s stance on the issue and others, including the Bragans, who own the Suns, will be consulted.
“We’ll get their [the Bragans] input as well,” said Moran.
Mayor John Delaney has said the new $25 million park will have a Camden Yards — the home of the Baltimore Orioles — look and feel, complete with a brick facade and, supposedly, a natural grass infield and outfield. Salem strongly seconds those sentiments.
“My personal feeling is that we are building a Camden Yards-type ball park and it should be natural grass,” said Salem.
According to Downey, the Jaguars have been approached about the idea of switching to a player-friendly synthetic surface. (Currently, the Jaguars play on what is known as GN-1 Tifway grass.) When the playing surface at Investco Field at Mile High in Denver was being prepared, Downey sent a representative from SMG to Denver to observe the process. The ensuing report reinforced Downey’s belief that a natural grass/synthetic combination was a real possibility for both the new baseball park and, perhaps, eventually Alltel. Others, including Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren (the Seahawks have been playing their home games at the University of Washington’s stadium while their new one is being built. In lieu of the Seahawks playing on their field, UW replaced their old Astroturf with the new, high-tech synthetic turf), have said the new synthetic surfaces are light years better than the old Astroturf that causes freak injuries and gives players vicious rug burn.
“There are other synthetic surfaces that have natural grass sown in, but the best is at Mile High,” said Downey. “Our guy actually went out there and looked at it. When the Seahawks were here a couple of years ago, Mike Holmgren was saying how much they liked the surface [at UW] and how much the players liked it. That kind of got my attention.”
Downey contends there is more upside to installing synthetic turf than there is to constantly maintaining natural grass. While the look, feel and playability of natural grass is virtually impossible to mimic, the year-round cost of maintaining such a field can reach into the hundreds of thousands.
In Florida, once cooler weather sets in, the bermudagrass at Alltel and golf courses all over the area goes dormant and turns brown. The dormancy is combated by overseeding with rye grass. Also, Alltel is resodded several times a year depending on the amount of play the field receives and the weather conditions during those games. All of this maintenance costs a lot of money.
Downey and the Jaguars have talked about one day installing the hybrid synthetic/natural grass turf product that teams throughout professional sports are switching to. The special turf is mostly synthetic, but has real, growing grass woven into it to help create a more natural surface.
“We’ve presented it just as something to talk about,” said Downey. “It’s not a synthetic, but a reinforced turf. An Australian-based company was going to put in a sample at one of the practice fields, but they wanted an astronomical price to do it.”
Downey said the synthetic turf does come with one major downside: the initial cost.
“There’s more of an upfront cost for an artificial or synthetic surface,” said Downey. “But, there’s a pretty good savings annually with the synthetic versus natural turf. There is a constant in terms of construction, but the sprinkler system for the natural grass system is an added cost that can be a $300,000-400,000 difference.”
“And, it would give us the ability to bring in more activity.”
Downey added that having a synthetic surface at both Alltel and Wolfson Park would help SMG attract more concerts and other events to Jacksonville. Right now, promoters must to pay to have the field covered in order to stage an event at Alltel. Also, the fact that a stage could be erected, the event held and the stage taken down without hurting the field would make Jacksonville a viable option for musical acts, regardless of the time of year. It’s no secret that Jaguars head coach Tom Coughlin doesn’t want anyone in Alltel besides his team because he doesn’t want the field damaged. Downey said, ultimately, he has very little say in the matter and can only offer advice to City officials.
“All I can do is feed them information on the number of events we could have and how to hold down costs,” said Downey, adding that it costs most promoters $60,000-70,000 up front to pay for field protection. “They ought to consider a synthetic turf. It plays well and it’s good for 10 years.”