Crews Transform Comerica Park Into Soccer Stadium
DETROIT – Comerica Park underwent surgery Monday as crews fixed and modified the sod on the field to accommodate a major soccer exhibition match. About 40 percent of the field needed to be replaced after the outfield grass was torn up during a Metallica concert and heavy rains. VIDEO: Comerica Park grass damaged after Metallica concert The damaged sod is being replaced and expanded into the infield to accommodate the International Champions Cup on Wednesday between AS Roma vs. Paris Saint-Germain. Watch field crews work on the field...
read moreTigers’ Home Hosts International Soccer Game
DETROIT — Comerica Park underwent quite a transformation over the past week, from a concert venue to a baseball stadium to a soccer pitch. In its latest form, the park hosted a 2-1 win (penalty kicks) for Paris Saint-Germain over AS Roma in an exhibition game on Wednesday. It was the first professional soccer match in the history of Comerica Park, which opened in 2000, and part of the fifth-annual International Champions Cup, a tournament of pre season friendly matches between European clubs. The tour has stops in 11 U.S. cities...
read moreCrew Transforms Comerica Park Into Soccer Pitch
A week after hosting a Metallica rock concert, Comerica Park is taking on another identity as crews worked Tuesday to patch together a soccer pitch on the ballfield. On Wednesday, the home of the Detroit Tigers will host the International Champions Cup soccer match between Paris St. Germain and AS Roma. The pitcher’s mound, bases and home plate were removed to flatten the field, and 15 truckloads of sod were hauled in to cover the dirt base paths. “It’s a huge undertaking,” Michael Healy, the park’s vice...
read moreIllinois Farmer Finds Niche in Turf Industry
Converting Wrigley Field back to its normal state actually was quite an undertaking for Steve Bush, a Rock Island County Farm Bureau board member, and his company, Bush Sports Turf of Milan. Rock Island County farmer Steve Bush at Wrigley Field’s home plate Chicago Cubs fans probably won’t think twice about the appearance of the playing surface at historic Wrigley Field, built in 1914, when the 2011 baseball season opens. But converting the baseball field back to its normal state actually was quite an undertaking for Steve Bush, a Rock...
read moreBush Turf Rebuilds Wrigley Field
The list is lengthy and impressive: Dodger Stadium, Iowa State University’s Jack Trice Field, the University of Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium, Modern Woodmen Park. But Wrigley Field, Steve Bush said, “is king.” Mr. Bush, owner of Bush Sports Turf in Milan, is installing the playing surface at Chicago’s famed Wrigley Field. This comes in the wake of the University of Illinois and Northwestern University playing the first college football game at the baseball park since 1938. But that’s not why Mr. Bush and his...
read moreTo End This Turf War, Unroll Sod (NY Times)
FIFA doesn’t want to talk about installing grass for next summer’s Women’s World Cup in Canada. The Canadian Soccer Association doesn’t want to talk about it, either. Trey Rogers? He’s happy to talk about it. Rogers, a professor of turf grass management at Michigan State University, was the scientist in charge of the installation of real grass over the fake version inside the Pontiac Silverdome for the 1994 men’s World Cup, when FIFA required that the playing surface there be changed to grass. He and his team spent more than a year and a half...
read moreMan United/Real Madrid Match at Michigan Stadium Sets 109k+ Attendance Record
Despite only being a preseason friendly, Manchester United’s match against Real Madrid at Michigan Stadium drew a sell-out crowd of 109,318 — a new record for a soccer match in the United States. The previous record of 101,799 was set by the 1984 Olympic gold-medal match between France and Brazil at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The massive crowd at Michigan Stadium gave the match between two of the world’s biggest clubs a much more lively atmosphere than these teams usually find on their preseason tours. And with tickets...
read moreDouglas Park Coming Back to Life
Rock Island’s Douglas Park has a one-of-a-kind sports history. The first Iowa-Illinois college football game was played there. So was the first NFL game — between the Rock Island Independents and St. Paul Ideals. In the 1960s, the popular World Fast-Pitch Softball tournament called Douglas Park home, as did countless high school baseball stars from Rock Island and Alleman over the years. Despite all that history, the park fell into disarray. It has not been used all that much in recent years other than by the Quad-City 76ers, a local...
read moreInsider look at New Surface at Busch Stadium in St. Louis
By Steve Bush, CSFM It seems every other day there’s a newer version of technology available or another update to download: phones, computers, cars. We update and upgrade so constantly without a second thought. But what about sports fields? Aren’t those “one & done?” Hardly. Good managers know how much work is involved in keeping fields up-to-date. And when there are superior technologies or materials available, it’s vital for the quality of the sports that take place on those fields to take advantage of those upgrades. When we began...
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