FROM INFIELD TO OUTFIELD Synthetic Grass Is a Solid Hit

BY AMANDA PENNINGTON

Playing surfaces can impact how a game is played, which is why die-hard baseball fans and players have strong opinions about turf and natural grass.

At the outset of Globe Life Field’s design, the Texas Rangers organization envisioned a natural grass field, but all options were on the table with one goal in mind — to select the best playing surface in Major League Baseball. It became clear that keeping grass alive in the coolest retractable-roof ballpark in Texas would prove difficult and result in an inconsistent playing surface. Enter solid, convincing proof of a new, high-tech turf that would provide better conditions and safety for the players. This new, natural-looking and -feeling synthetic surface provides a more consistent, higher-quality field for the players. This is nothing like the turf of yesteryear.

Years ago, Paragon and Shaw Sports Turf worked together to benchmark high-end, natural grass fields. Through various testing methods, they evaluated the playing surfaces at Major League stadiums for baseball and professional fields for soccer and football. They focused on how the high-end grass fields affected performance, how balls and athletes interacted, and how sports are played on a high-end, natural grass surface. The goal was “to identify the characteristics that determined how athletes and the ball interact with a highend, natural grass surface,” William Chaffe, president of Paragon Sports Constructors, said. “Every sport is different, of course, so the ball and athletes interact differently on the playing surface in each sport.”

Armed with this information, Shaw Sports Turf developed turf systems that mimic the best natural grass surfaces. “Shaw’s hybrid turf system uses different types of yarn, or blades of grass, to create the synthetic grass,” Chaffe said. “They’ve tuned infill content and makeup to create a system that really mimics, in a very real way, great natural grass at the MLB level.”

What is the key to this natural-feeling synthetic turf at Globe Life Field? There are several, but Chaffe credits one in particular.

“The uniqueness of it is in the fiber — the fiber shape, the fiber composition and the makeup of the actual fabric of the turf,” Chaffe said.

Telissa Hubbard, assistant project manager at Manhattan Construction, agreed. “The strands are a blended fiber,” she said. “Several colors are blended together for a natural look. Overall, the turf will look like natural sod and you will be able to see a mix of the lighter and darker color pigments.”

THE PAD IS DESIGNED INTEGRAL WITH THE TURF AND INFILL TO CREATE A SYSTEM THAT, IN SPITE OF THE CONCRETE SUBFLOOR, WILL FEEL VERY MUCH LIKE NATURAL GRASS.

–WILLIAM CHAFFE, PRESIDENT OF PARAGON SPORTS CONSTRUCTORS

Chaffe also credits a second key to the performance of the synthetic grass: the infill. This turf’s infill “is a natural infill mixed with sand,” Chaffe said, “which has a consistency very much like dirt … It looks, it feels, it smells, and it plays very much like natural grass.”

In traditional turf systems, “the infill materials were nonorganic compounds, such as foam and other lightweight materials,” Hubbard said. “This turf system is 90 percent organic infill, which is a mixture of coconut [and] other nuts.”

The fibers and infill have an important impact on the game. “The organic compound provides a more realistic feel to the turf,” Hubbard said, “so as the players are running and interact with the field, they are on a surface that is familiar.”

Similar synthetic turf was installed at the Arizona Diamondbacks’ stadium last year, with positive reviews. “Shaw continues to … refine their infill ratios and contents to where they can fine-tune these fields to play fast, slow — however the players really want it to play,” Chaffe said, explaining that they can adjust the turf to the point of having different parts of the field play in different ways.

For synthetic turf of this caliber, moisture content is important. “There is an optimal moisture content in the system, which allows it to play at the highest level of performance,” Chaffe said. “That moisture will need to be maintained on this field. We have systems and plans in place to be able to add and maintain that moisture [at] a very specific level, which will make that playability as close to natural grass as it can be.”

In the case of Globe Life Field, “This is a turf system on top of a concrete subfloor. It has a pad … to assist with impact and drainage,” Chaffe said. “The pad is designed integral with the turf and infill to create a system that, in spite of the concrete subfloor, will feel very much like natural grass.”

After the Manhattan Construction team built Globe Life Field’s concrete subfloor base for the synthetic turf, Paragon Sports Constructors began installing the turf and clay areas, the batting cages and the workout areas.

The concrete subsurface is the base of the turf system. Manhattan’s team worked hard to ensure the subsurface is very flat for the turf system. “The concrete has to be flat and level but still have a way to drain water from the slab so moisture does not affect the performance of the turf,” Hubbard said.

The clay portions of the field may not receive the same attention, but they are still crucial to the game. First, Paragon’s team built up the clay areas so that most of the heavy work was completed before installing the roof. To get the field game ready, finishing touches were performed on the clay and finally on the turf. Constructing each part of the field was different, requiring the team to work back and forth between the turf and the clay. “We had to protect each area as we worked our way around the field,” Chaffe said.

In the end, “you’ll have a very, very specific clay mix — base paths and warning track — that will be dirt,” Chaffe said. “Those areas will be built over a sub-base that is identical to any Major League park. The mound will be the same way. It’ll all be natural clay, much like any player would experience on any Major League field. The turf system is really the only part of this field that’s going to be synthetic.”

What sports fans may not realize is that synthetic turf must be tailored to the climate of a specific region. For example, a client in Florida and a client in Arizona require two different systems — “you’ve got a hot, humid climate in Miami, and a hot, dry climate in Arizona,” Chaffe said. “Both of those environments, of course, are different than north Texas … Each one of these systems has to be tuned to the environment. The overall composition is pretty similar, but each of these systems has to be tuned to their specific environment.”

For Paragon, the biggest challenge was being one of the last teams to work on their portion of Globe Life Field. “The roof and everything overhead had to be done by the time we got in there,” Chaffe said. “They’ve got a very, very demanding schedule, and Manhattan has done an unbelievable job of mapping out a strategy and executing that strategy on time.” But this challenge is also one of the team’s greatest successes: “putting all the pieces in right, in the right spot, at the right time.”

MAINTAINING GLOBE LIFE FIELD TURF FOR YEARS TO COME

While synthetic turf doesn’t require mowing and fertilizing, the system at Globe Life Field will require sweeping, grooming and significant moisture maintenance. Maintaining the field’s moisture is important and can tailor the speed of play.

“The maintenance of this field for the Rangers is still going to be fairly intense,” Chaffe said. “It’s just going to be different than a natural grass field … We plan on working closely with the organization to ensure that the field is well-maintained.”

“Water management is key for optimal turf performance,” Hubbard said. “Trench drains around the slab reduce any unwanted water under the turf.”