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Post by oldschool on Apr 14, 2014 12:56:49 GMT -5
"In a recent presentation by the Michigan State University, Certified Sports Turf Manager, she cited that the typical annual maintenance costs of her artificial turf fields ranged from $13,720-$39,220, while the typical annual maintenance costs of her natural turf fields had a similar range of $8,133-$48,960." It seems the annual cost difference is not that much of a difference ,I guess it depends on the particular installation and usage .
If we could find a sponsor to fund the initial cost , and maybe find another to handle the annual maintenance cost , I can see us doing this . But it has been made very clear we have other very pressing needs that need to be handled before we can spend the money out of pocket .
One thing is clear , we need to do a better job with what we have .
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Maxell
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Post by Maxell on Apr 14, 2014 13:10:44 GMT -5
One thing is clear , we need to do a better job with what we have .
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saabman
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Post by saabman on Apr 14, 2014 13:35:49 GMT -5
(Most field events are held at another location . Only the LJ, TJ, and HJ are joined with the running events)..............the Javelin is currently on the football field...... I see that is something that A&T should work out. Maybe someone should ask them why ? If they have other fields why beat up your main field with the SP,Javelin and HT. Maybe thier throw pits are located on the main field. If so they should relocate them to one of the other fields. Now with the javelin m,SP and HM the do have equipment for competition that is Field Truf friendly.
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Post by Jesse Jackson's Side eye on Apr 14, 2014 13:44:41 GMT -5
I thought that the Javelin, Hammer and discus was held on the football practice field? I remember some time ago that a portion of the practice field was torn up to make may for the javelin runway and there was a huge debate on here regarding what exactly they were doing over there...
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Post by oldschool on Apr 14, 2014 17:48:36 GMT -5
I thought that the Javelin, Hammer and discus was held on the football practice field? I remember some time ago that a portion of the practice field was torn up to make may for the javelin runway and there was a huge debate on here regarding what exactly they were doing over there... You are absolutely correct my man .
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Post by marchingband1969 on Apr 14, 2014 23:56:44 GMT -5
I agree with numberonebrave...install artificial turf because you want it not because it saves money because as he stated, it's not a cost saver. I think artificial turf will look great in Aggie Stadium but there are a lot of other things I'd put ahead of that...like putting in more and better food concessions, paving the darn parking lots, installing bathrooms in the tailgate area, providing a better practice field for the band (I threw that in just for the band) and upgrading the stadium bathrooms. $800,000 could buy us some real nice looking artificial turf or a bunch of other stadium improvements that we really need.
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Post by numberonebrave on Apr 15, 2014 6:39:59 GMT -5
(I remember some time ago that a portion of the practice field was torn up to make way for the javelin runway )...................that is true and it sits over there NOT being used. The football field was used saturday and at the MEAC championships and NCAA regionals last spring. Maybe someone in NCA&T athletics can tell you why
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Post by DOOMS on Apr 15, 2014 6:48:53 GMT -5
Wait a minute. We've forgotten a very important piece.
We are an agricultural and engineering school.
Why in the hell can't we maintain the grass and drainage at a high level? Make it a danged senior thesis each year or something. It's bad advertisement for us to have a brown field at any time of the year.
If anything, instead of looking to go turf, maybe we should be utilizing what we have in the brains department and upgrading the grass. Hell, do it right and people would be buying "A&T specification field turf" instead of the fake me out stuff.
Now there's a serious moneymaker.
Of course, I majored in English and my yard is dandelions and pockmarks, so I have no technical knowledge as to how doable this is.
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Post by Bigboy on Apr 15, 2014 7:51:24 GMT -5
Personally I like natural grass but if we were to get turf, the band and the team could practice on it without doing any harm to it like they would on a grass field.
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Post by ohsixrain on Apr 15, 2014 8:11:23 GMT -5
Either way it goes if we do or don't does not affect the immediate future of the program. But, I will say, we should be able to afford either option. If our natural turf is turning brown because we cannot afford to maintain it properly, that's an issue for me. On the flip-side, if we wanted to invest in a synthetic turf and cannot afford to up-keep that is an issue as well. If the costs to maintain a natural turf is $20k, then allocate the funding to maintain and up-keep the surface. Either way, we need a top level surface to play on and there shouldn't be any corner cutting in order to make it happen. The mindset should be the same for synthetic turf.
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oleschoolaggie
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Post by oleschoolaggie on Apr 15, 2014 12:01:38 GMT -5
dang, i just checked and ssu has synthetic turf too! didn’t know that. so dang, only a&t, famu, and nsu have natural turf. but over at mfz, both nsu and famu alums are saying they too have field turf on the drawing boards.
and regarding maintenance cost studies on synthetic turf versus natural turf, i found that the studies on the internet are “all over the place” depending upon who authored the research. there’s a million studies out there and the conclusions are predictable based on who did the study. for example, if you examine studies that were funded by field turf contractors, their conclusions heavily favor synthetic turf. whereas studies funded by natural grass specialists, their conclusions favor natural turf.
i just have a hard time believing that 8 out of 11 meac schools chose to invest in synthetic turf if the cost and durability benefits associated with synthetic turf didn’t outweigh that of natural turf. given the funding plight of most hbcu’s, to me its hard to believe that meac schools invested in synthetic turf just for cosmetic reasons.
bottom line, if we’re not gonna install synthetic turf, then we need to do a much better job keeping our practice field and game field healthy and “green”. currently it only looks good for the first month and a half of the season, and our practice field is almost reduced to mud by the end of september. if we’re gonna keep natural grass, then we need to invest more funds for it’s upkeep. i watched some of unc’s spring football game on espnu last night and their natural grass was a very "rich" dark green color, unlike aggie stadium, there wasn’t a brown blade of grass anywhere in sight...
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Post by Bigboy on Apr 15, 2014 15:02:18 GMT -5
How many SWAC schools have field turf as opposed to natural grass?
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Post by marchingband1969 on Apr 15, 2014 15:36:35 GMT -5
I don't care if every darn school in the MEAC and SWAC has or gets turf, we have to do what's right for us. We just came off 10 hard football years and just started turning the corner the last 3 years. We have a long list of things we "need" to build a "championship" program so let's not get carried away because our sister schools have plastic grass on their fields.
Let's get our priorities right and our eye on the prize...winning championships. Through all of this conversation no one said that having turf will win us championships...and that's what we should be concentrating on.
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oleschoolaggie
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Post by oleschoolaggie on Apr 15, 2014 15:56:40 GMT -5
How many SWAC schools have field turf as opposed to natural grass? bigboy, i could be wrong but i believe that out of 10 swac schools, only one school has synthetic turf and that’s alabama state who just built their brand new stadium. but to the best of my knowledge, no other swac schools have synthetic turf...
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oleschoolaggie
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Post by oleschoolaggie on Apr 15, 2014 16:00:58 GMT -5
Let's get our priorities right and our eye on the prize...winning championships. Through all of this conversation no one said that having turf will win us championships...and that's what we should be concentrating on. maynor believes synthetic turf helps recruiting and i do too. better recruits improve the chances of winning championships. plus, synthetic turf holds up better when it rains, so the team can practice in rain without tearing up the field instead practicing in the gym. more practice means a better chance of winning a championship. by the way, a new press box doesn't win championships either, but it improves the aggie stadium experience because it enhances the beauty of aggie stadium. the jumbotron doesn't win championships either...
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