The Rogers Centre in Toronto sometimes hosts friendly games between high-end tier one and two soccer teams from Europe before the season starts.
“The Rogers Centre is a concrete facility; there’s no real grass in it. Instead, they roll out artificial grass when they have baseball games. However, the soccer teams won’t play on artificial turf,” said Steve Schiedel, Greenhorizons CEO. “We’re the supplier of choice for when they need to host a world-class soccer event.”
As such, Greenhorizons has already been preparing for the day the call comes in requesting a natural grass field for the Rogers Centre.
Rogers Centre Specialty Sod
“We specially grow the turf specifically for use in the temporary field,” said Steve. “We manicure it in our field typically for a year or a year and a half ahead of time.”
Immediately following the commissioning of a natural turf field, our clock starts ticking!
“The sod is perishable and needs to be laid within 12 hours. We have to make sure that the stuff that was harvested first is laid first. We start trucking it to the Rogers Centre early on the morning of the installation.”
Steve explained that it takes about 20 truckloads of sod to complete the field at the Rogers Centre. This takes about 40 people on several different teams to complete the work. One group harvests, one transports, and one group lays the sod at the site.
“Everything is on a perfect system; we’re still harvesting while we’re laying the sod. We have lots of logistics meetings ahead of time to try to improve our process.”
The Rogers Centre is located in downtown Toronto, so there are a number of limitations to work with.
“We always take the time to understand our customer’s needs. Part of that is to get in and out very quickly without being a hassle.”
Installing the Sod Carefully
Starting with the best grass for the field wouldn’t matter if we didn’t make sure that we installed it properly.
“We always make sure the first line is perfectly straight,” said Steve. “Hiding the seams in the field is also very important. Water management is critical; we have to water the sod well once it has been laid. Then, we roll it to get all of the lumps and bumps out. Finally, we mow it.”
This is vital to make certain that when the soccer players take to the field, there is nothing for them to trip on or cause them to fall.
“Our goal when we’re doing this is to make sure that the soccer players are extremely happy and that the soccer pitch we build for them performs the same as their home pitch,” said Steve. “We’re disguising the concrete floor to make it look like a natural grass field. Anybody can go and lay grass on concrete, but this is different. It has to perform like a natural grass sports pitch.”
This means that the pitch has to be safe for the players to move on – whether they’re sliding, diving, or running – and how the ball reacts to the field when it bounces and rolls has to be the same.
The Field is Ready!
“Typically, within 12 to 24 hours after we’re done, they’re already playing on the field,” said Steve. “Thirty to forty thousand people will come and see the game. However, they won’t know that the field has just been installed,” said Steve.
“At half time, we’ll go out and clean up any divots or damage in the field.”
Because the Rogers Centre is used for such a variety of events, “As soon as the game is done, we will start removing the sod. We then take it back to the field we harvested it from.”
“We re-till the sod into the ground and recycle it, then we’ll start a new crop,” said Steve, noting that Greenhorizons keeps an ongoing cycle of sod for the Rogers Centre. “We’ve done the field there four times, and we’re ready for when they call us next.”
That totally incredible. I’m a flooring installer my whole life. I started with my uncle in 1974 at the age of 12, then on my own at the age of 18. I’ve installed almost every floor that exists. I e even laid several rolls of sod. What you and your company is doing is extremely impressive in my eyes. I would be honoured to see it done some day. Im currently not working My uncle is a huge soccer fan as well as the whole family plus 2 of his grandchildren are currently playing competitive for several teams. They are real good lads 8 and 10 respectively. My cousin played for Toronto many years ago, Peter Servinis. Are family loves soccer. About a dozen or so watch many games. As I said im totally impressed with you ability to put a natural field in at the Rogers Center. If im able to get back to work a company like yours would be an blessing. My name is Nick Servinis and am 61. Thank you for your comment section and the opportunity that I could express myself.
Hello Nick!
Thanks so much for your detailed comment. We have a lot of admiration for flooring installers too. That’s hard work, and I’m happy to hear you’ve even tried your hand with some sod. These kinds of projects don’t come along that often, but when they do, we step up to the plate! Having dedicated, knowledgeable, and hard working staff makes all the difference for massive projects like this. Soccer is a great sport and we’ve gone to great lengths to encourage the use of natural turfgrass on soccer fields. Having BMO on board with the project really helps us make progress towards more natural turfgrass on sports fields across Ontario. Especially in the springtime, we’re always looking for dedicated staff. If you’re up for it, be sure to reach out to the farm to inquire about a possible position working around the farm! 🙂
All the best and take care,
Cam
-Greenhorizons Sod Farms