We’ve seen a fair amount of discussion regarding the turf that was installed at the stadium which is located within the Doylestown Memorial Park. Chippewa Local Schools owns and is responsible for the stadium and its upkeep even though several other groups not related to the School utilize the field. We’ve done some research to help answer one of the key questions - how was the turf funded?
Image courtesy of: https://www.facebook.com/TheVascoGroup
State of the field before the turf
To best understand the funding question, one must consider the field's state in the mid-2010s. In short, it wasn’t good. We saw in a previous post that football and soccer tournament games dating back to the late 1990s had to be moved to different facilities, as a result of the field’s poor condition. This created additional expense for the district and a loss of revenue. If you combine the costs of field rental, transportation, and the loss of revenue. It is reasonable to say there was a negative economic impact of around $3,000 for every event held at a different facility. With at least 20 events impacted, we are talking $60,000 of total negative economic impact to the district.
Repairing the field so it could be used safely required a significant investment due to the completely deteriorated drainage system beneath the field. Because it had failed, it was damaging other areas of the park with the excess water runoff. Repair required a complete excavation estimated at around $500,000, including replanting the field with grass.
Justifying the turf investment
The district and community saw that even with the repairs the facility wouldn not be usable in the winter and early spring as even a well-drained field would still be wet and prone to damage requiring re-sodding. To replace the field with artificial turf would provide lower annual maintenance and a generally considered safer playing field while costing the district an additional $200,000. Re-couping the cost difference isn’t hard to see; let’s look at the yearly upkeep costs for the grass field.
| Mowing (Weekly May through October at $200 cost per mowing) | $5,000 |
| Football game prep (Field lining and prep, $500 per game, assumes five home games) | $2,500 |
| Soccer game prep (Field lining and prep, $500 per game, assumes 20 home games) | $10,000 |
| Other Repairs (sod/reseeding, fertilizer, etc.) | $5,000 |
| The total annual cost to maintain | $22,500 |
Let’s assume that our soccer and football teams have one game where they could not play on a grass field and would have to be relocated to a turf field. This would add an additional negative economic impact of $3,000, bringing the overall economic impact annually to $25,500.
It would take approximately eight years to recoup the investment. Considering the lifespan of such fields is typically ten years or more, the district would be $50,000 ahead by the ten-year mark.
Community support and donations for facilities
The Chippewa Athletic Boosters started a Chippewa 500 Club to be able to fund facility improvements from private donations. To date, the Chippewa Athletic Boosters have raised $60,000, which has gone into projects such as repairs to the concession stand and ticket booth at the Doylestown Memorial Park Stadium as well as a backstop for the new Softball field at the JR/SR High School. This doesn’t account for time spent by volunteers or in-kind donations for the work invested into the facilities.
The School Board saw the community commitment and funded the turf field, understanding that funding through the Chippewa 500 Club would supplement the investment. While that fundraising hasn’t raised the entire gap of $200,000, that $60,000 has offset other facilities investments for the district.
The $60,000 raised means the district would be approximately $110,000 ahead at the ten-year mark.
Additional opportunities that come with the turf field
One thing not counted here is the impact on other programs and uses of a turf field vs. a grass field. Here’s a small list of the programs that tend to use this field…
- Chippewa Youth Football and Cheerleading
- “Reading under the Lights” annual literacy program
- Spring sports such as baseball and softball for practices
- Marching band
These additional events and activities at the field bring people into Doylestown. Those people visit our local businesses while here, bringing additional economic impact to the community.
Summary
The district indeed paid for the field - in full - using funds from the general fund. It’s also true that the district must fund all its facility upkeep even if there are no donations to subsidize those investments. If one looks at the numbers presented, the district saw the field turf as a prudent investment considering the required repairs.
The numbers presented showcase that the investment pays off over ten years with no further use of the field outside of football and soccer. But new facilities bring new opportunities, and the turf investment has enabled new usages of the field, which benefit the district and the community as a whole.