THE FRONT OFFICE~

OPINION PAGE

GROWTH DEMANDS TRAININGFOR STADIUM MANAGERS

As the sod was being laid this past Mayto complete construction of Joe RobbieStadium, the new home of the Miami

Dolphins, the stadium still did not have a sportsturf manager. Negotiations with a turf managerfrom another National Football League stadiumhad broken down and there was only threemonths to go before the Dolphins first exhibi-tion game. It became quite clear to the Dolphinsthat finding a qualified manager for a profes-sional stadium was not easy.

Fortunately, with the help of Dr. Bill Daniel,whose Prescription Athletic Turf system fieldgraced the NFL's newest stadium, and Harry

Gill, grounds superintendent at Milwaukee County Stadium, the Dolphins foundDean Kuykendahl. He was the field rnanaqer at Lewis University in Romeoville,IL, a small university that doesn't even have a varsity football program.

Kuykendahl is a fighter-someone who pushes for what he wants. He knewvirtually nothing about sports turf management when he took the job at Lewisthree years before. But that didn't stop him. Lewis puts its athletic energyinto its Division 2 National Collegiate Athletic Association baseball program.The first thing Kuykendahl did was decide to make Lewis's varsity field thebest in the conference. He started calling universities for help with the field.His search led him to Daniel who was still teaching at Purdue University inLafayette, IN. Daniel provided Kuykendhal with reams of information on baseballfield care and told him to get in touch with Gill at Milwaukee County Stadium.

Without hesitation, Gill invited Kuykendahl to come to Milwaukee and seehow he prepared the field for the Brewers. "Pops" Gill took him under hiswing, as he has many other aspiring stadium field managers in the past, andgave Kuykendahl probably the best "on-the-job" training available today. Thedrive between Romeoville and Milwaukee became a regular trek for Kuykendahl.

The extra effort paid off. Kuykendahl asked for and received sizeable budgetincreases for his program at Lewis. The baseball team started bragging abouttheir field and the athletic department backed him with the administration forimprovements in the softball and soccer fields on campus.

Working those few games in Milwaukee, however, had given Kuykendahl"stadium fever." He wanted to go all the way to the top, whether that wasa Division 1 university or a professional baseball or football team. He keptin touch with Gill and Daniel on a regular basis. His dream came true thisJune when the Dolphins put him in charge of the field at Joe Robbie Stadium.

Kuykendahl worked hard to get his break and beat incredible odds to getthe job he did. That is wonderful for him, but not so wonderful for the industryin general.

A training program for future stadium field managers needs to be deve-loped as soon as possible. The demand for experienced field managers ex-ceeds the ability of Harry Gill or George Toma at the Kansas City Royals toindividually train all candidates for future stadium positions. Furthermore, on-the-job training needs to be backed up with at least a two-year education inturfgrass management. Up to this point, golf course superintendents and turfmanagement students have had to learn special stadium techniques from Gilland Toma. Field managers, on the other hand, frequently lack important generalturf management knowledge. They need both to succeed in the long run. BothGill and Toma spend hours on the phone with turf experts making sure theyconsider all the angles of turf management when there is a problem.

Stadium field managers today must know both turf management and fieldpreparation techniques. A two-part educational program has to be establishedto train the stadium managers of the future. These "complete" candidateswill then be available when a stadium needs a turf manager. The last minutescramble will hopefully then become a thing of the past.

12 sportsTURF

EVENTS...CALENDAR

OCTOBER28 29 Wisconsin Golf Turf

- Symposium, PfisterHotel, Milwaukee, WI. Contact: BobWelch, Milwaukee Metropolitan SewerageDistrict, 735 North Water St., Milwaukee,WI 53202, (414) 225-2222

NOVEMBERKansas Turfgrass Con-ference, Ramada Inn,

Wichita, KS. Contact Larry Leuthold, ex-tension horticulturist, Kansas StateUniversity, Waters Hall, Manhattan, KS66506, (913) 532-6170.

2-4

New York State Turf-grass Association Con-

vention, Rochester Riverside ConventionCenter, Rochester, NY. Contact: ElizabethSeme, executive director, NYSTA, POBox 612, Latham, NY 12110,(518)783-1229.

3-6

8 11 Green Team Conference- and Trade Show, Hyatt,

Crystal City, VA. Sponsored jointly by AL-CA and PGMS. Contact ProfessionalGrounds Management Society, 12 Gallo-way Ave., Suite 1-E, Cockeysville, MD21030, (301) 667-1833.

9 11 Penn State Golf Turf- Conference, Keller Con-

ference Center, Pennsylvania StateUniversity, University Park, PA. Contact:Dr. Joseph Duich, Dept. of Agronomy, 21Tyson Building, University Park, PA16802, (814) 865-9853.

DECEMBER7 10 Ohio Turfgrass Confer-

- ence and Show '87,Ohio Center, Columbus, OH. Contact:Ohio Turfgrass Foundation, 2021 CoffeyRd., Columbus, OH 43210,614-292-2601.

Plan now to attend.Dec. 7-10, 1987The Ohio CenterColumbus, Ohio

The Ohio Turfgrass FoundationConference and Show featureslectures, workshops and morethan 350 exhibits for lawn care,golf course, landscape andgrounds maintenanceprofessionals.

GolfCourse !!!

Grounds& AthleticFields

LawnCare,

\

I

• Ground Covers - Alternativesto Grasses in the Landscape

• Wildflower and Native GrassRenovation

• Aquatic Management Strategiesfor Small Ponds

• PGRs as a Tool for theProfessional Grounds Manager

• Annual and Perennial Selectionand Care

• Turf-Type Tall Fescues• Insecticides - Recent

Developments• Stress Management on the Job• Selecting the Proper Aeration

Equipment• Pre-emergent and Post-

emergent Herbicides - RecentDevelopments

• Soil Management in the Land-scape - Facts and Fallacies

• Low Budget Athletic Fields• Player Safety/Field Quality• The Agronomics of Athletic

Field Management -A Reevaluation

• Soil Management of AthleticFields

• Experience with TurfgrassAeration Equlprnent

• A Morning with George Toma

• Understanding Poa to BentConversion with TGR

• Experiences with Poa annua-Its Management and Controlfrom a Plant Pathologist'sViewpoint

• Management of Localized DrySpots

• The Pros and Cons of DiseaseDetection Kits

• Putting Green Management• Insecticides - Recent

Developments• Golf Course Computers -

Utilization and Cost• Personal Financial Planning• Stress Management• Wildflower and Native Grass

Renovation• Chemical and Biological Control

Strategies for AquaticManagement

• Greens Reconstruction -Making It Right!

• Bentgrass FairwayManagement- Are We Headedin the Right Direction?

• Thinking Superintendent -Time and Money-Saving Ideas

• Soil Management - Facts andFallacies

• The Black Layer - SiftingThrough the Maze

• Greens Reconstruction• Bentgrass Breeding• Overseeding Turfgrasses• PGRs for Poa annua control

• Ecology of Patch Diseases• The Pros and Cons of Disease

Detection Kits• Patch Disease Research Update• Why Pre-emergent Herbicides

Fail• Why Post-emergent Broad leaf

Herbicides Fail• Drift and Pattern Displacement

of Pesticides• Core Cultivation Effects on Pre-

emergent Herbicide Efficacy -Another Look

• Considerations and Selection ofCore Cultivation Equipment

• Soil Improvement andManagement - Physical orChemical?

• Pre-emergent and Post-emergent Herbicides for theLawn Care Professional

• The Pros and Cons of Turf-TypeTall Fescues

• Reducing Pesticide UsageThrough Agronomic Practices

• Experiences with PGRs in theLandscape

• Insecticides - RecentDevelopments

• Alternatives to Pesticides• Maximizing Job Satisfaction

Workshops• Insurance Liability - Insuring

the Landscaping and Lawn CareRisk

• Guidelines for EstimatingMaintenance and LandscapeWork

• Annual and Perennial Flowers• Understanding and Interpreting

Water Quality Related toIrrigation

• Pesticide Safety and Use

Ohio Turfgrass Foundation Anyone involved in turfgrass orornamental management isinvited to attend the Ohio Turf-grass Foundation Conference andShow. For complete informationand a conference program,contact:

Dr. John Streetc/o Ohio Turfgrass Foundation2021 Coffey RoadColumbus, OH 43210(614) 292-2601

s

Joe Robbie Stadium's PAT field is wide enough for international soccer competition.

The completed field two weeks prior to its inaugural exhibition gamein August.

Some of the greatest plays in profes-sional football are made off the fieldby people who never wear pads,

helmets or cleats. The people making theseplays are quarterbacks in their own right,but they will never be inducted into the Foot-ball Hall of Fame. They have contributedas much to the game as the greatest play-ers who ever graced the gridiron but you'llnever see them on Monday Night Football.Joe Robbie is one of these individuals.

Robbie owns the Miami Dolphins, a teamhe helped create in 1965 during the lastmajor expansion of the National FootballLeague. He knew then the importance ofa stadium to the success of a NFL franchise

14 sportsTURF

and has never forgotten it. Miami's OrangeBowl helped tip the scales in his favor sohe could build one of the most successfulfranchises in NFL history.

Every fall for 20 years, Floridians flockedto the historic 75,000-seat stadium to seethe Dolphins play. Loyal fans tolerated park-ing on city streets, college-style seating andlong lines at concession stands and res-trooms. The city did what it could to satis-fy the team and its season ticket holders.In 1976, it installed the first prescription ath-letic turf (PAT) field in the NFL. Seating wasupgraded as public funds were madeavailable.

To pay for some of these improvements

Rabbie's Law:

Bea5taclNotaTel1

the city added events. The use of the stadi-um grew as the Dolphins, the University ofMiami, the Orange Bowl Classic and localhigh schools and colleges played on a tightschedule that included concerts, motocross,soccer and tractor pulls. Robbie and Dol-phin Coach Don Shula became concernedover the impact of these other events onthe condition of the field and the stadium.Professional football was becoming morebusinesslike. Attracting corporate sponsors,season ticket holders and the best playersand coaches were based largely upon thereliability and revenue-producing ability ofthe stadium. So, in the late 70s, Robbiestarted voicing his concerns to the city and

Joe Robbie Stadium (right) is located across the Snake Canal from Calder Race Course.

·umowner,ant

considering his options regarding a stadi-um for his Dolphins.

Football was Robbie's life, but his train-ing was in law. Rather than making snapjudgements, instead he looked for small 100-pholes that others had failed to notice. Hehad developed unique contracts with hiscoach and some of his players to attract thebest talent for his team. The answer he waslooking for was not public financing oranother publicly-owned and operated stadi-um. Why couldn't he devise a unique ar-rangement to build one of the only privatelyfinanced stadiums in the League?

In 1984, Robbie's research led him to HOKSports Facilities Group, a Kansas City, MO,

Guy Kuykendahl paints the field for its professional debut in August.

architecture firm specializing in stadiums.With some creative planning, Robbie be-lieved a stadium could pay for itself andasked HOK's Ron Labinski and Dennis Well-ner for their suggestions. Having previouslydeveloped solutions for Giants Stadium, ThePontiac Silverdome, Arrowhead Stadium,Milwaukee County Stadium, CandlestickPark and the Hoosier Dome, HOK was anx-ious to perfect the income generating poten-tial of skyboxes and an improved type ofseating for season-ticket holders called "clubseating." Both types of seating could be soldto corporate and individual sponsors aheadof time to generate the level of credit wor-thiness lenders require before making multi-

million dollar loans.Skyboxes, luxury suites designed for cor-

porate entertainment during games, hadgenerated important revenue for other foot-ball and baseball franchises. In addition tothe $30,000 to $65,000 annual lease for askybox, a corporation bought a set num-ber of tickets to each event held in thestadium.

Club seating was designed for individu-als or small companies that wanted someof the same conveniences of skyboxeswithout the sky-high price. For $600 to$1,400 per year, fans in club seating couldview the game in a comfortable, premium-

continued on page 16

October, 1987 15

More than 8,000 yards of sand were graded to a tour-inch crown.

By the end of 1986, the stadium was starting to take shape.

Robbie's Lawcontinued from page 15view seat and take advantage of convenient-ly located lounges reserved just for them.These fans also purchase tickets for eventsjust as skybox customers do. Labinski hadhelped develop the club seating conceptfor the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadi-an Football League in 1977.

The Dolphins had become an importantpart of the Miami entertainmment scenewithout really providing local corporationswith much more than a seat. Robbie be-lieved that there was an opportunity to uti-lize this virtually untapped commercial sup-port to build a new stadium. HOK proceeded16 sportsTURF

Sand is carefully placed on top of the drain lines.

with a stadium design that included 216skyboxes and 10,000 club seats, far morethan had ever been built in stadiums before.

With a 20 year record of winning teams,Robbie felt he had the solution to financ-ing in his grasp. He convinced Dade Countythat tax revenues generated by a stadiumin the northern part of the county would eas-ily make up for a one dollar per year leaseon 460 undeveloped acres. He then deve-loped an extensive marketing program toobtain ten-year leases on skyboxes and clubseats. Before the first shovel of earth wasturned, Robbie had $20 million in lease andticket commitments, enough to convincethree banks to lend him the $100 million

he needed to build the stadium.He found the loophole he was looking for

and revolutionized stadium financing in theprocess. He raised the eyebrows of own-ers of professional sports franchises acrossthe U.8. and has helped fuel the hopes ofinvestors looking for expansion teams fortheir city. In the long run, Robbie may havelifted a great burden off the taxpayer in ci-ties with municipally-owned stadiums anddiscovered the way to "privatize" the stadiumbusiness.

He also may have removed a roadblockto major field improvement at stadiumsacross the country. Robbie has been a fanof natural turf since 1976 when he was in-

strumental in having the artificial turf in theOrange Bowl replaced with the PAT sys-tem. Natural turf meant the stadium need-ed a natural turf manager. Miami hired DaleSandin, a golf course superintendent fromGeorgia, who got to know Robbie well overthe next ten years.

"Mr. Robbie always took an active interestin the field," recalls Sandin. "When we hadfield problems he would first ask me whatwas wrong before he made any statementsto the press. He always supported me whenpeople took pot shots. He understands howthe PAT system works and what can gowrong."

"Joe Robbie wanted natural turf from dayone," reveals HOK's Wellner. "He was veryrealistic about the limitations of a naturalfield, but he insisted on it anyway. He sup-ported the NFL regulation requiring all natur-al fields to have tarps available in case ofrain. When the PAT people asked if a tarpstorage area could be built underneath thestands along one side of the field, he ap-proved the change order without hesitation."

The stadium site, which is located on theSnake Canal in Davie, FL, across fromCalder Race Course, presented addition-al challenges for HOK, the general contractorHuber Hunt and Nichols, and Southern TurfNurseries, the field installation contractor.At its original elevation, the water table wasjust a foot under the surface. Soil and com-paction tests showed the existing sandy soil

Both irrigation lines and the network of perforated pipe were placed on top of theplastic barrier.

and inconsistent rock formations below thesurface would not settle evenly under theweight of a stadium and 73,000 football fans.

Many stadiums are built partially belowground with the field below the outside ele-vation. Designers like to have spectatorsenter stadiums on a concourse above thefirst level of seating. This simplifies accessfor all fans. Due to the shallow water tablebeneath Joe Robbie Stadium, a differentapproach wa~ needed.

Since all fans would have to go up to reachtheir seats and down to exit the stadium,

HOK devised a set of eight circular rampswith escalators- two for each corner of thefacility. A capacity crowd can leave the stadi-um in about 15 minutes.

To compress the rock and sand beforethe first cement was poured, 500 cubic yardsof fill was piled on the stadium's footprint.The 40 foot high mountain was left un-touched for nearly four months before it wasspread over the site. When the dozers.finished, the stadium floor was ten feet abovethe former ground level.

continued on page 18

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lnigation and drainage lines lead into a central control room.

Robbie's Lawcontinued from page 17

While not all of Robbie's experiences withPAT were pleasant, he believed he under-stood why because of his frequent discus-sions with Sandin. Cancellations are adefinite threat in Miami where tropical stormsare common and it rains nearly 60 inchesevery year. One cancellation can take morethan $200,000 off the bottom line. Robbiehad seen the pumps at the Orange Bowlsuck standing water off the field in a mat-ter of minutes. Despite a tight budget, heset aside the $600,000 for a PAT field.

As footers were poured and girders startedto form the patternof a stadium, PAT's Dr.William Daniel and Laurel Meade started

Two pumps provide suction for the drainage system.

making final adjustments in the plan withDr. Tim Bowyer, Turner Gibson and Bill Wil-son of Southern Turf Nurseries. The plansand prices for the stadium field were firstsubmitted in the summer of 1985. It wasnow August 1986 and construction of thefield was to start in February, 1987. Rob-bie takes special interest in the plans forthe irrigation system and asks Wellner tocheck on other PAT fields with surface ir-rigation systems. He is concerned aboutheads located on the field. To satisfy Rob-bie's concern, the number of heads on theplaying surface was reduced to 12, four ofthose in the end zone.

More than three acres of Tifway ber-mudagrass sod was being custom-grown

on sandy soil at STN's sod farm in LakeWales, FL. "We had soil samples from thefarm tested," explained Wilson. "The lab saidthey were the closest thing to a greens mixthey had ever seen." More than 8,000 yardsof sand with a specific particle size wereordered in addition to three miles of drainagepipe, three acres of plastic liner, and 60,000pounds of calcined clay. Orders for the ir-rigation supplies and two vacuum pumpswere also placed months in advance.

On February 9,1987, the STN crews be-gan lazer grading the flat subgrade. No slopeis required for the PAT system to operate.The plastic moisture barrier was installedover the subgrade and up to the stands sur-

continued on page 20

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Robbie's Lawcontinued from page 18

rounding the field. The network of wrappedperforated drain pipe was then put togetheron top of the liner. The distance betweendrain lines is closest in the center third ofthe field, the part of the field receiving themost wear. In this part of the field the linesare only eight feet apart. This enables thedrainage system to remove up to four inchesof rain per hour from the center of the field.

The drain lines feed into "wet pits" locatedbehind the goal posts at each end of thefield. The subirrigation system works by in-jecting water into the drain lines at the wetpits. By removing water from the wet pits'

and adding suction, excess moisture isdrawn out of the root zone quickly. This dual-purpose drainage system is really the heartof the PAT system. The sand root zone onlyimproves its performance.

With the drainage network in place, STNstarted putting together the surface irriga-tion system. It consists of 44 Toro 640 heads,64 feet apart, in a square pattern. The headsare divided into six zones. The playing sur-face is divided into two zones splitting thefield down the center.

The ability to irrigate the playing surfaceand not the perimeter was important, butDaniel also wanted to be able to operateall zones at the same time. This required

a larger six-inch main line and anotherchange order which was quickly granted byRobbie. "We got everything we asked for,"exclaimed Wilson. "The Dolphins' cooper-ation made this project the smoothest in-stallation we've ever had."

With the drainage and irrigation systemsin place, 8,000 yards (13 inches) of sandwere spread over the field. After mixing thecalcined clay into the top three inches ofsand, a four inch crown running from thecenter of the field to the sidelines was grad-ed. "The only purpose of the crown is tomake water flow off the tarp during a rain,"explains Daniel. "The NFL requires a tarpto cover the playing surface in case of rain.The areas outside of the playing surfaceare perfectly flat."

By May 1, all 128,000 square feet of Tif-way sod was down and rolled. The sod waslaid in sections to fit the irrigation zones."Soil and air temperatures were perfect,"recalls Wilson. Within days the sod was root-ed into the sand/calcined clay mix. "If any-thing, it grew too well. We started to buildup a thatch layer faster than we would haveliked. We had to maintain the field ourselvesuntil Dean Kuykendahl was hired in July."

20 sporfsTURF

Suction can be directed to certain parts of thefield with these valves.

Kuykendahl was not very familiar withwarm season grasses when he left LewisUniversity in Romeoville, IL, to take the jobat Robbie Stadium. He had worked briefstints with Harry Gill at Milwaukee CountyStadium and Steve Wightman at Denver'sMile High Stadium. "I had a lot to learn rightoff the bat," said Kuykendahl. "The first ex-hibition game was just a few weeks afterI started. I had to correct the thatch andmowing problems before then. On top ofthat, I had to learn how the PAT systemworked."

With help from Wilson and Daniel,Kuykendahl got approval from Joe Fletch-er, director of stadium operations, to get ver-ticut reels for his Deere triplex and a top-dresser for sand. He also removed the frontrollers from the reels so he could achieve