The future of grass fields

[Orange and Brown]

You know if a school can keep it's grass field intact for all the home games that's a win-win, but that's not happening much any longer.
The trouble with artificial turf is it's gets so hot you can see the steam coming off it. I was on the chain gang at a school and you could see how miserable it must be to tackled on it during late August or early September games.
I'm all for artificial turf, but if i'm the A.D. i'm scheduling games on grass the first weeks of season.
Felt especially bad for the pee wee teams that have to play on turf.

We'd actually prefer to play all our games on turf.
Turf does get really hot but the fields that use the lighter pellets stay quite a bit cooler.

[Dundas]

Unless a donor gives VC around 5-800k, I doubt we ever have turf. Our field is 18 years old but it is only used for varsity football, 1 jv game, and 1 youth game each year. Everything else is played on the old field in town. I think that is a huge part of why it is, IMO, the best grass field in SEO.

[Barber1973]

VC fer sure the best looking field around.

[9.5 INCHES]

Love the grass field when it rains or snows.....NOW THAT IS FOOTBALL

.... Me too........

[allamericanironman]

I think there is still a lot of college's teams that play on grass.

Done a little research and 49 d-1 college teams still play on grass. The thing that really surprised me was the ACC and SEC.
ACC 10 grass fields 4 turf fields.
SEC 10 grass fields 4 turf fields.

Even in the midwestern climate that is the Big Ten there are only a few grass fields, Penn St, Mich St, Northwestern, Purdue,

This is an advantage to leave grass long water field down when Ohio st Michigan come to town trust me they can afford it. Look at the Purdue game mabye this has a part in Ohio st loss.

[Kicker.]

Done a little research and 49 d-1 college teams still play on grass. The thing that really surprised me was the ACC and SEC.
ACC 10 grass fields 4 turf fields.
SEC 10 grass fields 4 turf fields.

Even in the midwestern climate that is the Big Ten there are only a few grass fields, Penn St, Mich St, Northwestern, Purdue,

This is an advantage to leave grass long water field down when Ohio st Michigan come to town trust me they can afford it. Look at the Purdue game mabye this has a part in Ohio st loss.

I agree with you, a lot of the games when a "better" team plays at those places usually struggles or has a close game

[Leave No Doubt]

Unless a donor gives VC around 5-800k, I doubt we ever have turf. Our field is 18 years old but it is only used for varsity football, 1 jv game, and 1 youth game each year. Everything else is played on the old field in town. I think that is a huge part of why it is, IMO, the best grass field in SEO.

Too bad the team hasn't been so good.

[toast]

I believe Piketon will be getting a new turf field before next season. It just makes sense. So many more cost and increased time associated with grass fields. And with many schools the field gets used for football and soccer at various grade levels; turf is the best way to go. In most cases you invest a lot of money for grass and still have a "poor" field from overuse.

Most schools that go with turf get some degree of private funding. Private funds have covered the entire cost at some southern Ohio schools.

Some of the latest research indicates schools that invest in sports do better in academics. Some kind of residual affect that benefits the entire school body and community. Much better off with well funded sports and academics for our public schools. Some day our state leaders will figure that out.

[eagles73Taylor]

Toast, I will be pleasantly surprised if that happens that soon at Piketon. That’s only 7 months away, now in the near future I think it will be done, plus other athletic and the arts upgrades! You can’t go wrong with permanent improvements to a school.

[toast]

Toast, I will be pleasantly surprised if that happens that soon at Piketon. That’s only 7 months away, now in the near future I think it will be done, plus other athletic and the arts upgrades! You can’t go wrong with permanent improvements to a school.

I kinda thought they were hoping to have turf by next season. But you would have a better idea on that than I would. It will be a nice upgrade that most are looking forward to.

[eagles73Taylor]

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying you’re wrong, just going by what I have heard also. Would love for it to happen this year as well.

[toast]

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying you’re wrong, just going by what I have heard also. Would love for it to happen this year as well.

Let me know if it happens before next season. I want to come down and check it out and get a few pictures. Exciting for sure

[bfry]

Process has begun at Northwest. Old concession torn down.

[ravensfan09]

Will Gallia ever make the transition to turf? Fairland?

[State7]

Any schools getting turf in the coming years? Or in the talks. Piketon? Unioto? West? Be neat to see those teams look into it!

[mlittle]

Toast, I will be pleasantly surprised if that happens that soon at Piketon. That’s only 7 months away, now in the near future I think it will be done, plus other athletic and the arts upgrades! You can’t go wrong with permanent improvements to a school.

I kinda thought they were hoping to have turf by next season. But you would have a better idea on that than I would. It will be a nice upgrade that most are looking forward to.

Love to see Piketon get turf by next season

[NW Phoenix]

https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/n ... ic-complex

[Sykotyk]

Ferndale Yellow Jackets (PA) hosting Purchase Line Red Dragons (PA) at Ferndale Stadium in Ferndale. (Week 10 this past year).

You don't see games like this that much anymore.

More pics available from that week here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sykotyk/a ... 2969478605

Photos from that game start on Page 2: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sykotyk/a ... 8605/page2

[Sykotyk]

[4thgoal]

From my understanding, if schools set aside the same amount of money they spend for maintaining the field (labor, fuel, gas, mower maintenance, fertilizer, seed, water, paint, etc) they can easily afford the replacement of turf after its 10 year life. The major issue is the initial investment, but if you can get to that point, the turf basically pays for itself. I have heard the turf at Burg has already paid for itself after 7 seasons.