Photo Credit: Courtesy of Dalton Parks and Recreation
It’s 4 p.m. in late October, and it’s been raining buckets for most of the day. The phone lines are ringing off the hook. With the crisp air and saturated ground, parents everywhere want to know the status of tonight’s games. Luckily, teams can still play youth football. Until recently, the Dalton Parks and Recreation Department was in the same situation as many other facilities--teams needed to play, but it was a tough decision whether to sacrifice the integrity of the fields. So, after asking questions and getting advice about the feasibility of switching the playing surfaces from natural to synthetic, here we are, a year later, and it’s time for kickoff.
The park district recently finished several major construction and revitalization projects to give the recreation department nine synthetic-surface playing fields of various sizes. Youth/flag football, soccer, lacrosse, etc., can now be accommodated on a near year-round basis without having to restrict play due to field limitations.
This article will take a look at an estimated cost comparison of one of the district’s athletic fields that measures 100 yards by 40 yards, versus natural turf of the same size over an 8-year time period. This period was chosen due to the life cycle of a synthetic surface. Since many of the costs are fixed for both surfaces, it makes it easier to provide an analysis on if “biting the synthetic bullet” and changing to a different playing surface is an appropriate choice for some communities.