Here is a link to one college field maintenance. $30 to $35 thousand a year. Can't imagine a high school field would come close to that. Water cost my be a little more further south than Michigan.

http://environmental.jrn.msu.edu/football/growingrass_full.html

 

Safety is an issue as well. Artificial turf reduces injuries, and their severity greatly. According to stuff I was just reading after I googled "Cost of maintaining a natural grass football field"

There's no way a turf field "pays for itself" strictly speaking in dollars. I don't care how you do the math, you couldn't possibly find enough costs of maintaining a grass field to come up with $500 to $800 K during a 15 year (and that's really pushing it) life span of a turf field.

 

Grass seed costs almost nothing. You only water half the year, if that. A maintained (oil changes, sharpen the blade) mower will last for 10 years, and they aren't that expensive to begin with (I know there are excpetions). I just can't come up with many major expenses. And now that I think about it, doesn't most every school district in the world already own mowers. As near as I can tell, NKU is the only school in America that is all concrete. lol.

 

If labor is handled by the school's maintenance staff, I'm not sure how you figure that. It's part of their normal work week, so it's already in the budget. Some schools have "volunteer" groundskeepers who do it just to help the program. I'm unaware of any school that contracts for field labor (grass cutting, seeding, marking.)

 

Seems to me you could keep a grass field in pretty darn good shape for about $15K in this area. Maybe a bit low, but I can't believe it'd cost 30K.

Having district maintenance staff take care of your football field is a BAD IDEA!!!!! There are hundreds of districts that have ruined beautiful playing surfaces by handing the care over to maintenance guys! I believe that the correct numbers are right around $20,000 per year for a football field to be taken care of. If you throw in the rate of inflation (which averages 4% a year) the turf definitely pays for itself, especially, since the cost of turf continues to go DOWN every year. Remember when DVD players were like $400.00? haha.

Payback goes beyond just what you can put a dollar value to. The amount of extra usage you get out of a turf field is priceless. In the case of Highlands, if there ain't snow on the turf field, somebody is using it. Ft. Thomas Jr. football, other youth football leagues, band, youth soccer, youth T-ball...the list goes on and on. And in a land-locked area where field space is at a premium, how exactly do you put a value on that?

The last year Montgomery County had grass (I think 3 years ago), the field was gone by mid season. It was a very rainy Fall and half the season was played in mud. We love our new turf field.

The cost to maintain a grass field probably varies from school to school. Some fields are nothing more than a cow pasture with stripes and field goal posts. Other schools go all out with perfectly manicured fields with special grass. I have also seen schools that contract out the maintenance of all sports fields.

Only people that come up with figures to justify cost are companies and engineering firms that are trying to sell the turf field . There is no way schools would spend $50000 a year in field maintenance. The large percentage of schools are using equipment and manpower that they already have to do maintenance. Most schools are lucky to get the field mowed and marked anyway. Turf fields are a luxury few can afford

There's no way a turf field "pays for itself" strictly speaking in dollars. I don't care how you do the math, you couldn't possibly find enough costs of maintaining a grass field to come up with $500 to $800 K during a 15 year (and that's really pushing it) life span of a turf field.

 

Grass seed costs almost nothing. You only water half the year, if that. A maintained (oil changes, sharpen the blade) mower will last for 10 years, and they aren't that expensive to begin with (I know there are excpetions). I just can't come up with many major expenses. And now that I think about it, doesn't most every school district in the world already own mowers. As near as I can tell, NKU is the only school in America that is all concrete. lol.

 

If labor is handled by the school's maintenance staff, I'm not sure how you figure that. It's part of their normal work week, so it's already in the budget. Some schools have "volunteer" groundskeepers who do it just to help the program. I'm unaware of any school that contracts for field labor (grass cutting, seeding, marking.)

 

Seems to me you could keep a grass field in pretty darn good shape for about $15K in this area. Maybe a bit low, but I can't believe it'd cost 30K.

 

100% my thinking as well.

Having district maintenance staff take care of your football field is a BAD IDEA!!!!! There are hundreds of districts that have ruined beautiful playing surfaces by handing the care over to maintenance guys! I believe that the correct numbers are right around $20,000 per year for a football field to be taken care of. If you throw in the rate of inflation (which averages 4% a year) the turf definitely pays for itself, especially, since the cost of turf continues to go DOWN every year. Remember when DVD players were like $400.00? haha.

 

Can you share your math used to say it definitely pays for itself.

 

$20k per year ? How is that arrived at?

 

$500k/$20k = 25 years.

 

What am I missing besides the 4% figure that doesn't change the big picture?

For a nicely manicured bermuda grass field from scratch:

 

If put in good drainage and a good bermuda grass field from scratch it will cost $50-75 k.

 

Now proper care for a really good surface calls for weekly/biweekly fertilization plan. You have to spray weeds out about 1 a month. IT needs anywhere from 50-75 tons of sand a year for top dressing for the first 5 years...can get by with 25-35 tons after that. It needs to be airiated 2-3 times a year. Along with lots of water especially in drought years. IT needs to be mowed 3-4 time a week with a reel mower (8-10 k investment). It has to be painted every week (2-3k investment for paint machine). Also in years that are extremely wet, there is generally another round of sod and/or sprigs put out.

 

I would say programs that maintain a great playing service invest 100-125k every 5 years in maintenance and working time.

 

So if you can have a field that saves man hours, allows more community and school activities to use (youth leagues, band ect) I can see the cost of the turf field being worth the investment.

 

It also allows your football/soccer programs to get good/safe practice time even in wet conditions (who has really nice practice fields?)

I would say programs that maintain a great playing service invest 100-125k every 5 years in maintenance and working time.

 

 

$20k to $25k per year.

 

$500k to $800k investment and I'm guessing there is still SOME maintenance required .

 

 

10 years = $50k to $80k per year

15 years (seems long for a turf) = $33k to $53k per year

 

How much revenue can a school generate from soccer and youth football rental fees?

Highlands fans: Turf seems to looking "worn."

 

Any idea how much longer you expect to get use out of this turf?

A few years ago Henderson looked at putting in turf. It was going to cost about $750K. At the time they were spending $25k a year to maintain the grass field. They were told the turf field would last about 15 years. The coach was able to secure donations to cover half the cost of the turf if the school system paid the other half. The superintendent wouldn't ok it.

A few years ago Henderson looked at putting in turf. It was going to cost about $750K. At the time they were spending $25k a year to maintain the grass field. They were told the turf field would last about 15 years. The coach was able to secure donations to cover half the cost of the turf if the school system paid the other half. The superintendent wouldn't ok it.

 

It's a tough sell for a superintendent to spend $375k in one lump sum when state and local tax revenues are dwindling by the day.

 

It's easy for those of us who have not stake in it to lay out a spreadsheet and say "over X years it pays for itself." That's great.....IF you have the money now AND no other bigger priorities. I deal with that on a regular basis. I show great ROI for business owners but I'm only one issue they're trying to solve.

 

That's why I backed the Boone County folks who said "thanks, but no thanks" to Shawn Alexander's generous yet incomplete offer to help put turf in at Boone. Too many other real issues (come on, football field grass vs turf is not a real issue) to be solved in today's tough times.

Who do you have doing the labor in your estimate?

 

Local Bardstown outfit BCD Inc. was the general contractor, but there were about a dozen different outfits involved in installation. Some of those might have been strictly involved in other parts of the project, which included building new grandstands and press box, as well as new track surrounding the field.

It's a tough sell for a superintendent to spend $375k in one lump sum when state and local tax revenues are dwindling by the day.

 

It's easy for those of us who have not stake in it to lay out a spreadsheet and say "over X years it pays for itself." That's great.....IF you have the money now AND no other bigger priorities. I deal with that on a regular basis. I show great ROI for business owners but I'm only one issue they're trying to solve.

 

That's why I backed the Boone County folks who said "thanks, but no thanks" to Shawn Alexander's generous yet incomplete offer to help put turf in at Boone. Too many other real issues (come on, football field grass vs turf is not a real issue) to be solved in today's tough times.

I actually agree. Plus Henderson has one of the nicest natural grass fields around so it really wasn't needed.