[No. 03] Monmouth, Illinois: 240 tons of crumb rubber on one field alone. There is nothing special about the reporting of an installation of artificial turf field at Monmouth College’s Bobby Woll Memorial Field. The news story in The Register Mail (July 11, 2009) however contained some information that is interesting to note. The logos on the field are glued onto the turf, “which has a base surface of rock and sand. The synthetic grass for the field is between 2 and 2[1/2] inches long, but only about a half-inch of that will be showing after nearly 240 tons of a rubber is added to it for cushion.” The brand that is being installed is FieldTurf, according to the report. Source: Aaron Frey, “Monmouth outstanding in its field: Turf installation nearly finished for Fighting Scots,” in The Register-Mail, July 11, 2009, available at http://www.galesburg.com/sports/x135749119/Monmouth-outstanding-in-its-field .
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[No. 02] Calgary: Cost of fields and hours of play. According to a news report in the Calgary Herald (February 4, 2009), Calgary “has a lengthy list of new recreation projects awaiting funding and existing facilities that need maintenance and upgrading.” A report to the Aldermanic committee on community and protective services “outlined the advantages of artificial turf, including not needing irrigation or the application of fertilizer or pesticides. As well, an artificial field can handle about five times as many playing hours a year — about 3,000 — compared to the 550 hours a natural field is good for.” “However, the fields cost about $2.5 million [Canadian] to install, compared to $1.5 million for natural turf. Renovating an existing field costs about $2 million. The Calgary Soccer Federation’s expansion committee has come up with an $11-million plan to retro-fit the soccer center’s existing four fields with artificial turf and build a new one. It hopes the city will contribute $5.5 million to the project, while the city’s soccer associations can come up with $2 million. One Alderman is quoted as saying of the plans, “It’s the ultimate example of shovel-ready. It’s one of those low-hanging fruits we should grab and run with.” Source: Kim Guttormson, “No money right now for artificial soccer fields,” Calgary Herald, February 4, 2009, available at http://www.calgaryherald.com/Sports/money+right+artificial+soccer+fields/1253836/story.html .
SynTurf.org Notes: The article is wanting in terms of sorting out the cost number per field, and why renovation of ball fields cost of than putting down a new one! “Low hanging fruit?” “Shovel ready?” Oh, joy.
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[No. 01]: Sizes and stuff. A regular (US) soccer field (football field/pitch in the rest of the world) is 100 yards wide and 100-130 yards long, for a maximum area (300 x 390) of 117,000 square feet.
An American football field (not Canadian) measures 160 feet wide and 360 feet long (includes end-zones), for a maximum area of 57, 600 square feet.
One acre is 4,840 square yards. One acre is 43,560 square feet.
A ton can be either 2,000 pounds or 2,240 pounds ? depending on which one is more convenient, profitable or geographically customary!
An artificial infill soccer pitch/field contains 100 tons or 22,000 shredded used tires (crumb rubber). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_turf.
There have been estimates of 130 tons per pitch as well (see CrumbRubber, Item No. 15).
An artificial infill soccer pitch/field contains between 200,000-224,000 pounds of crumb rubber.
Each square foot of a soccer filed/pitch contains crumb rubber equaling 1.7-1.9 of crumb rubber. The same ought to hold true of a football field.
There have been reports of 3.5-4.0 pounds of SBR per square foot of installed artificial turf fields as well.
Environment and Human Health, Inc.'s study of artifcial turf infill estimates that a square foot of a field with between two and three inches of in-fill would have between five and seven kilograms of tire crumbs, translating to 11 to 15 pounds. http://www.ehhi.org/reports/turf/turf_report07.pdf (page 16).
Acronym rubber talk: SBR means rubber granules from used tires; TPE means new material thermoplastic rubber granules; EPDM means new virgin material rubber granules.
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