HoF Soccer Fields Much In Demand

3-5-10

By JIM KEVLIN

Interest in the former National Soccer Hall of Fame’s world-class fields is brisk, and three private entities are vying to ensure the crunching of cleats will be heard this summer running across the turf.
Otsego County’s Economic Development Office had issued an RFP – request for proposals – on the fields, and three proposals were in hand by the Tuesday, March 2, deadline.
“The three separate entities had expressed interest all along,” said Carolyn Lewis, county economic developer.  “We knew we were going to get those three.   We thought we might actually get two more.”
The Otsego County Development Corp. directors, who assumed ownership of the property Feb. 1 from the Hall of Fame, will meet shortly to review the bids, she said.
But Lewis expects to have a contract let by mid-April, in time to have new managers in place for the summer training camps and tournaments that have been staples in the past.
She acknowledges the OCDC timeline is “extremely aggressive,” but “in order to move forward and have tournaments this summer we need to be that aggressive.”
The fields are much-coveted because “on a scale of one to 10, they are Grade 10 fields,” said Scott Clark, president of The Clark Companies, the renown Delhi-based turf company that built the four HoF fields 19 years ago.
These days, it would cost $700,000 to build such fields, he said, and as he describes them you can understand why.
These are sand-based fields:  The turf lies on 10 inches of sand, which speeds drainage, Clark said.
Under the sand is a layer of stone and, under the stone, drains every 15 feet on center, spaced across the field to “evacuate” the water to storm drains.
These fields don’t have a “crown” to divert runoff to each side; they simply absorb water.  And to ensure there’s enough moisture to keep the grass strong, there are “pop up heads” every 40 feet or so to irrigate the fields.
The sod, Clark continued, was grown on sand at a specialty operation in Saratoga.
“They’re my babies,” said Kevin Meredith, CSFM (for “certified sports field manager”), who has maintained the fields for all of their 19 years and hopes to continue under contract this summer.
Successful maintenance has required development of a turf plan, “like any other management plan,” that establishes a baseline, goals and procedures to get there.
Where you might mow your lawn every week to 10 days, “we mow up to four times a week,” said Meredith.  “It keeps you from taking a lot of the turf blade off at any one time, and it induces the plants to put out a denser canopy.”
The result in West Oneonta:  “Really tight fields.”
“These are very good fields,” said Scott Clark, who is the acknowledged U.S. expert in their construction.