quickly, within an hour or two after the sod is rolled up. Don’t panic. Te damage is tip burn and usually grows out in a week or so. You can hose off the sod with water once it is out on the field which may lessen the damage a bit.

Field Painting

We will paint the Temple end zone logos if the Eagles do not have a home game the next day. When we do paint their end zones, they pay for the replacement of the grass in the end zones. Tat resodding is done within a few days of the game. We do paint for the Army/Navy game. Tose sod replacement costs also are covered.

Anticipated Wear

We know, based on history, how many games our field can take. We look at the game schedule and try to find a two- week window where we can replace the center of the field. We try to time it when Temple wants to paint the end zones or they want to host an on-field event following the game. Te new thick cut bermuda will have a little more color than the rest of the field. Tis can draw comments from the media, but now it’s more a statement that resodding has occurred than the negative remarks of past years.

Non-Sports Events

Work very closely with all the parties involved for non-sports events and take part in every meeting. Over-communicate and document everything. You want to do what works best for the client as well as what will be best for your field and facilities.

Do cost comparisons. Will it cost more to cover and uncover a roadway to the stage every day or to leave the

roadway down and resod, knowing the client will pay for the resodding? We’ve done if both ways. With geotextiles and protective flooring, field surface damage can be minimal if the roadway is removed daily. Te amount of traffic makes a difference, too. TV people rehearse entries and exits over and over. Concert people are in and out.

For concerts, we have a list of questions we ask internally. What other events do we have around this time? Can we put two concerts back to back? Do we remove the field before or after the concert? What internal events do we have? How much open time do we have before and after the concert? For some concerts, we only replace the sod in the road way; for others it’s the full field.

We sometimes remove the sod prior to putting down the flooring to save time afterward. We still have the DD GrassMaster fibers in the soil profile so we maintain stability, even without sod. Post-concert, we’ll only need to remove the flooring and geotextile and do our standard surface prep to resod. Tat saves us the 1.5 days it takes for material removal.

Take Away Reminders

We need to be open and creative to find ways to be able to host multiple events while not sacrificing player safety. We need to work with all parties involved within each event to get as many details as we can. We need to keep documentation for our records including: emails, pictures and meeting notes.

We need to be flexible and work with the clients—they will be more likely to help us.

To resod from sideline to sideline and goal line to goal line requires about 75,000 square feet of sod. With the transportation costs from North Carolina added, the price tag is more than traditional cut sod, but the Eagles only pay that once a year. Te concert company or other field user pays the replacement costs of resodding after their event. During an NFL game, there are $260 million of assets on that field that need a safe, playable surface. We look at the in season resodding as a cheap insurance policy.

Tony Leonard has been Director of Grounds for the Philadelphia Eagles since 1999. He is responsible for Lincoln Financial Field and the Eagles’ training complex. He presented this topic during the Sports Turf Managers Association Conference in January of 2017.

Full field in season sod installation took place for COPA AMERICA CENTENARIO USA 2016 soccer play.

All photos courtesy of Tony Leonard. 45