Just four short years ago, the management of Ted Hendricks Stadium in Hialeah, Florida, near Miami, had to limit the use of the field just to maintain its quality.
That meant fewer teams had the opportunity to utilize the field, revenues at the stadium did not live up to their potential and field quality was an ever-present concern.
Fast forward a little over three years into life with an AstroTurf® field. Playing time has increased, costs are down and revenues are up.
“Before AstroTurf®, we had lots of downtime,” according to Parks and Recreation Assistant Director Reggie Betancourt. “We needed it to get the field ready for every event. We literally had to bring it back to life.”
Those efforts were just during the season. It took as much as five to six months of post-season downtime to properly care for the field.
According to the Synthetic Turf Council, a grass field can use as much as 500,000-1,000,000 gallons of water per year. With synthetic turf, that part of the field maintenance effort is eliminated and that water can be conserved in the community.
The STC also says that most grass fields can accommodate 680-816 hours of play per year during a three-season window.
Synthetic turf can accommodate up to 3,000 hours of play each year with no down time, that’s the equivalent of 3-4 well-maintained grass fields.
In Dade County, that additional playing time is a must. There are currently 28 high schools in Dade County which play their football games in three different stadiums. In 2009, eight of those schools used Ted Hendricks Stadium for over 30 games. The stadium also hosts numerous soccer games, as well as the Copa Latina Soccer Tournament and numerous other athletic and community events.
Having those events at Ted Hendricks Stadium is now a source of community pride, according to Manny Ferrera, Parks and Recreation Director.
“This field is top notch compared to others,” according to Ferrera. “AstroTurf® was very professional, informative and attentive to our needs. We are happy with the results. We would recommend AstroTurf® to anyone wanting a turf field.”
AstroTurf® is the brand which invented the synthetic turf industry and has reinvented itself through products that perform more like natural grass.
“We have over 160,000,000 square feet of AstroTurf® in use all over the world,” according to AstroTurf® President Bryan Peeples. “We’re happy to be the company that installed the field at Ted Hendricks Stadium but we are even more knowing that field has contributed greatly to the development of young athletes in South Florida.”
About AstroTurf®
For many athletes and sport enthusiasts, the iconic AstroTurf® brand has redefined the way the game is played. The company offers advanced, state-of-the-art, multi-sport and specialized synthetic turf systems with proprietary engineered technologies, leveraging the industry’s only vertically integrated manufacturing system. A growing number of high schools, colleges, professional sports teams and municipalities continue to select AstroTurf®-branded products for their premium quality, technical superiority and safety. Recent innovations from AstroTurf® include GameDay Grass™ 3D with RootZone®, a polyethylene/nylon hybrid system which most closely replicates natural grass; TurfAide™, a non-chemical antimicrobial shield protecting against MRSA and other infectious bacteria; and Astroflect™ Technology which significantly reduces turf surface temperatures.
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