Article code: 92-092
http://www.panstadia.com (also www.piqr.com and www.panstadia.co.uk)
PanStadia International Quarterly Report: Volume 9 No. 2, November 2002.

[TURF PROTECTION SYSTEMS]

TERRACOVER GETS STONED!

Terraplas USA Rentals made it possible for Ford Field to rent
Terracover® from Tropicana Field and have it in Detroit for both
the grand opening gala events and the Rolling Stones 'Forty
Licks' world tour. Once again the Terraplas family of
products proved to be the answer when it comes to
protection of a highly valued sports surface.
Mike Beane charts its success.

 

In late August, Ford Field became the latest addition to the professional stadium landscape in the US as it opened its doors for the first time. The grand opening week was a series of gala events and invitation only dinners as Detroit welcomed a long sought after addition to the downtown. Those grand opening events were followed by the feature attraction, the Detroit Lions opening football games and the ever-popular Rolling Stones worldwide tour.

Seeing is believing and if you have not been to the stadium or you have not seen the official website for Ford Field, here are some excerpts that reveal some interesting information and facts about the new NFL venue, built around an old warehouse...

The Background

On November 16, 1999, a new era in Detroit Lions history began when the team officially launched the construction of its new downtown Detroit stadium, Ford Field. Twenty-one months of hard slog later, and on Saturday 24 August 2002, the Lions and the city of Detroit unveiled one of the most impressive sports and entertainment venues ever built.

The Lions' new home is an incomparable 65,000-seat facility that includes a giant glass wall, revealing the picturesque Detroit skyline, and the old Hudson's Warehouse, originally built in 1920. The massive project encompasses a total of 1.85 million square feet of development. The old Hudson's Warehouse, a major cornerstone of Ford Field, houses most of the stadium's luxury seats, press box, restaurants, food courts, lounge areas, banquet facilities, entertainment venues and commercial space. The inclusion of the warehouse into the stadium project allows the sightlines at Ford Field to be among the very best in the NFL. In fact, even the locker room facilities have been built in the basement of the seven-story historic Detroit structure.

Simply the Best

Of course the new stadium is state of the art in every way including the latest in synthetic infill turf systems. These new turf products are a great improvement over the existing synthetic systems; however their installation has created a number of new problems for the operations departments, here are the facts:

* The traditional nylon turf systems were installed over an asphalt base or some solid base that allowed for machine cleaning after a special event.

* The same is not true for the synthetic infill products. They are designed with loose rubber pellets as a base material making the use of traditional vacuums impossible.

* You cannot run a sweeper or floor scrubber over these types of products, so protecting the turf during a special event is critical.

So what's the answer? The facilities engineer at Ford Field, Bob Gardner, previously worked in the same position at Tropicana Field in St Petersburg, Florida. In the fall of 2001, 'The Trop' purchased 88,000 sq feet of Terracover® turf protection system. The system has been successfully used at a number of events at The Trop including trade shows, concerts, and boat shows, so after moving to Ford Field in 2002, Bob began to investigate the best system to be used for both the grand opening and the Rolling Stones Concert. His conclusion? Use Terracover®... the reasoning was simple:

* The load capacities allowed any of the concert or special event components to be built directly on the Terracover® flooring system.

* The Terracover® provided an excellent surface for all the support services (tables, chairs, production, etc.) to move cases, carts and, as needed, forklifts on the floor.

* The interlocking cams and overlapping edge design is unique among protection systems. This provides a monolithic floor.

* Cleaning is always an issue. At Ford Field a hallway floor scrubber was run over the system while it was still in place. The result? - it was clean for the next event.

Terraplas USA Rentals, the broker for rentals of the Tropicana Field system set the wheels in motion that made it possible for Ford Field to rent the Terracover® from St Petersburg and have it in Detroit for both the grand opening gala events and the Rolling Stones 'Forty Licks' world tour. Both events went forward without a hitch and once again the Terraplas family of products proved to be the answer when it comes to protection of a highly valued sports surface.

And these special events will not be the last ones at Ford Field. Some have been planned years into the future. Prior to opening this year, Ford Field captured the attentive eye of NFL owners. Ford Field was selected unanimously on 1 November 2000 by NFL ownership to be the host site of Super Bowl XL to be played 5 February 2006. It will mark the first Super Bowl in the Detroit Metro area since the Pontiac Silverdome was the site for Super Bowl XVI, played January 24, 1982.

A new Ford has come off the assembly line and it is one that demands you come and take a test drive... Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan.