Tough new turf adds revenue opportunities
By Ryan Rogers
Sports Editor
March 26, 2008
 A tough new turf destined to bedeck the University of Windsor’s varsity stadium has received some encouraging funding ensuring its installation for the upcoming Fall 2008 season.
Announced March 17, the Windsor Alumni Association provided $500,000 and UWindsor alumni Richard Peddie (BComm 1970, LLB 2001), president of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, offered $100,000. The announcement also recognized a joint usage agreement between the university and the Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board (WECDSB), who will provide $25,000 annually over 10 years.
Athletics Director at the University of Windsor, Gord Grace, said that the large donation from the Alumni Association has secured them a permanent logo on the turf. “We’re looking at putting the alumni logo on the field,” said Grace.
Grace said they are intending to have the shield logo of the Lancers as centre field, and the Alumni Association logo on the 20-yard-line. The turf is reported to be ready by mid-June.
While logos will be a permanent honour to the major contributors, the athletics department has no intentions of selling any further space on the turf to advertisers.
Grace said there were a number of factors that led to choosing the Prestige XM turf for the stadium. “First was price,” said Grace.
“Another one is the reputation of the installation, as well as the satisfaction level of some of the customers. We’ve had a chance to go and see this field at a number of locations,” he continued.
The product is manufactured and installed by FieldTurf Tarkett, who has installed more than 1,900 high profile stadiums, universities, schools and parks worldwide.
“FieldTurf is an industry leader for a reason,” said Grace as he commented that 65 per cent of artificial turfs that are installed are done so by this company. “They have a good product and they install it well and give a good warranty. We went out and this was the best product for us,” said Grace.
The new turf won’t require cutting or feeding, and will be impermeable to weather conditions which might otherwise affect sports like football, soccer and rugby.
Another advantage, said Grace, is avoiding painting the lines on the stadium’s turf for football. According to Grace, painting the lines on the stadium’s turf last year was around $16,000.
The field will require some maintenance associated with the turf. “Vendors as well as the people who have had [the turf] installed [said], on occasion, every two years, you may have to add rubber pellets, which is not a huge expense,” said Grace.
The lifespan of the turf is expected to be 10 - 12 years for the entire product, “so we’ll have to start building a fund for replacement down the road,” Grace said.
While the past turf was much more delicate, relegating the Lancer rugby team to the practice field for last season, the new turf will be able to host all the Lancers’ teams, and then some. “We estimated last fall, I think, that we had sixty hours of use on [the field], because of the grass situation,” said Grace. Soon the turf will be able to weather that kind of use over a long weekend, let alone an entire season.
“We anticipate we’ll be using it for intramurals, for other varsity events, and it’s going to become available for school boards to have some of their football games there… So it’s going to be used for the community, too. I guess the point on that is that it’s a rental opportunity, too,” continued Grace.
“Not only will you be using it more, not only are you saving money on the maintenance, but it’s a revenue-generator, too… It makes a lot of sense,” said Grace.
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