The turf at the University of Lethbridge Community Stadium is being replaced, July 11, 2022 (Photo: LNN)

By Drew Stremick

Turf being replaced at University of Lethbridge Community Stadium

Jul 11, 2022 | 5:48 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge athletes will soon be playing on new turf (literally).

The University of Lethbridge Community Stadium is replacing the turf on the field for the 2022-23 season.

Executive Director of Recreation at the University of Lethbridge Bill Halma says the previous turf at Community Stadium lasted for about twelve years and it was in need of replacing.

“We started talking about this actually probably about three years ago, just prior to COVID. We actually had to bring Field Turf in to do some maintenance on the old field. And they did a quick survey of it and said, ‘yeah, it’s starting to get down towards the end of its life’,” said Halma. “Obviously, the first year of COVID we didn’t do much on the field because there wasn’t much going on. But then this past fall we noticed a bunch of the turf was now starting to tear up. So, we figured it was time to to get at this.”

Halma says it will cost almost a million dollars to replace the aging turf.

What's Happening in Lethbridge this week: November 12-17, 2024

Nov 12, 2024

What's Happening in Lethbridge this week: November 4-10, 2024

Nov 04, 2024

What's Happening in Lethbridge this week: October 28-November 3, 2024

Oct 28, 2024

“This is a little north of about $900,000,” Halma said. “Part of it is actually cost-shared with the city of Lethbridge. One third is cost-shared because we have a memorandum of understanding with the city, with obviously the community stadium here. So, the big infrastructure projects are cost-shared, so it’s great to have a partner in with the city.”

Another development Halma is enthusiastic about is the developing partnership between the U of L and a number of Lethbridge high schools.

“One of the things I’m kind of excited about in terms of developing partnerships, [is] on the north end zone, you’re going to see four of the high school logos that play football here,” Halma explained. “That’s something that we wanted to do as a value added [initiative] for the schools and try to build that partnership and relationship with them.”

Logos of four Lethbridge high schools will be part of the north end zone at the University of Lethbridge Community Stadium, July 11, 2022 (Photo: LNN)

In terms of how this new field will compare to the old system, Halma says it should react and feel more like real grass.

“If you’ve come and watched a soccer game here over the last number of years, you’ve noticed the ball really bounces high and it runs very, very fast,” said Halma. “This one … is going to mimic grass a lot better. So, I think our soccer players for sure will feel like they’re playing on more of a natural turf surface than than the previous surface. Rugby and football will notice probably it’s a little bit softer on the impact as well.”

The new longer turf being installed at U of L Community Stadium will play more like real grass, July 11, 2022 (Photo: LNN)

Vice President of Field Turf Kevan Pipe says this new turf system is being used by several other schools across Canada.

“The University of Lethbridge [is] joining 34 other Canadian youth sports schools with very similar systems,” said Pipe. “We are right now on campus at [the] University of Ottawa putting in a turf system very similar to this. Later on next month, we’re at University Sainte-Anne in Church Point, Nova Scotia.”

Pipe went on to explain some of the major differences between the old turf system and the new one.

“What makes this product different than, say, the field that they had here before? There was approximately three pounds of infill per square foot on the old turf system,” Pipe explained. “We’re putting in 9.2 pounds of infield per square foot system, per square foot. So over the course of this entire field, we’re putting in about one million pounds of infill.”

Pipe added that the increased amount of infill should reduce the risk of injury for athletes that play on it.

“We have epidemiological studies that have been published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine that has compared different turf systems with regards to injury rates for high school and college football, men’s and women’s college and high school soccer,” Pipe said. “And the infill weight is one of the biggest factors in terms of protecting player safety and player health.”

The installation of the new turf is expected to finish by July 17, and the first exhibition matches will be played on the field in early August 2022.

Read more Lethbridge News Now.