 By Mia Alva, Jul 3, 2025 (photo by Mia Alva)
After agreeing to replace the La Cañada High School turf field in November 2024, the La Cañada Unified School District Governing Board recently approved a change order due to an unforeseen condition, increasing the contract by $113,000. Part of the original agreement with FieldTurf USA was to reuse the existing shock pads that lie beneath the synthetic turf, as they had passed testing that assessed the hardness of the playing surface. “It was expected that only approximately 5,000 square feet of the existing shock pads would need to be replaced,” Melissa Shepherd, assistant superintendent of business and operations, said to the board. “After removal of the existing turf, it was discovered that more than 5,000 square feet was needed to be replaced and unusable.” Since the proposal cost included a $40,000 allowance for unforeseen items, the increase will come out to $73,447 and make the full contract amount $909,258 instead of the original amount of $795,118. ...the district anticipated 20 years of life out of the current shock pads, which didn’t pan out. Shepherd said that certain sections were wearing differently. These are excerpts, read the full article here.  Photo credit: Whole Hog Sports EXAMPLE: Arkansas Razorbacks The Razorbacks switched back to grass in 2019 after 10 years playing on synthetic. Two things to note -
July 21, 2019 by Matt Jones - Whole Hog Sports FAYETTEVILLE — Natural grass will return to the field at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium within a few weeks. The University of Arkansas football team will play home games on a natural surface this fall for the first time since 2008 — the team’s first season under then-head coach Bobby Petrino, who had artificial turf installed in 2009 at a cost of $1.1 million. *Petrino said the synthetic surface was needed to withstand the wear and tear of his practices. Petrino preferred to have most of his practices inside the stadium, and the grass field showed some signs of overuse by the end of 2008. Ten years after Petrino lobbied for a new field in his first season, another new Arkansas head coach, Chad Morris, said he preferred natural grass, citing his experience coaching Texas high school teams. The change could not be made in time for Morris’ inaugural season because construction to the stadium’s north side wasn’t completed until August. With a crane sitting inside the stadium, the turf was peeled back roughly 40 yards most of last year, then laid back down shortly before the 2018 season opener against Eastern Illinois. Arkansas began tearing out the turf field in April and expects to have real grass in the stadium by early August. The estimated cost to switch the field back to grass is $963,000. Read the full article You only have to go back to grass once. This costs not much more than a synthetic field replacement and less than a new synthetic field, which unlike grass needs repeated costly removal, disposal and replacement every 8-10 years on average. Summary and notes by Safe Healthy Playing Fields, Inc. |
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