Tips From The Pros

MEDIA MANAGEMENT FOR BIG GAMES

With August comes the big game season, and I don’t mean for hunting. The baseball races are as hot as the weather can be in August, football starts and every game is big, MLS soccer in the US is in its stretch-run of the year and in Europe the professional football (soccer) leagues are starting. For the sports field manager, dealing with the media coverage for a big game can be a big challenge. In today’s hyper-competitive media markets, access is what everyone wants. We have “insiders” on all the networks. Pre-game reports usually include an on-field stage of some kind, one or two small segment productions of some kind to air during the telecast, and perhaps several live-report stations set up around the field. The work can last up to 5-6 days for a big television production, and all sorts of different contractors may need access to the field.

Rather than adopt a confrontational posture to protect the playing surface and surrounds, a policy of communication and cooperation will always get the best results in your efforts and may even help cast your team’s field and brand in a better light.

Well before an event, an advance team from the television network will usually visit the stadium and meet with house personnel. This is an important chance to identify the production team leaders, and any contractors they may use and exchange contact information. Perhaps more importantly, it’s a good time to let the production team know that you do not consider them being on the field an intrusion. I used to tell them right off that I understand media folks have an important job to do also; my team and I want to help them in any way we can to get the job done. This could include anything from helping to find a local supplier for something they need, to recommending a good place to go out for lunch. I can remember often getting responses of surprise at this point. According to many production teams, the groundskeepers at host venues often treat them like uninvited pests. Once they get over the surprise of a field manager’s helpful posture, they become the biggest fans of your field ever. I’ve come into my stadium field early on a game day only to find the production manager kicking people off the turf that don’t belong. I’ve found that if you acknowledge the media folks as important professionals, they will act that way and be very careful and complimentary of your field.

It’s also your first chance to identify the on-field production elements. What are they requesting to do on the field, and exactly when? What type of equipment will be used on the playing surface and where? If you see conflicts, now is a good time to point them out. If the issue of concern can’t be moved or changed to your satisfaction, introduce the idea of using protective flooring where appropriate to protect the surface. If you don’t own flooring, you might consider renting it for larger production elements. Even the best planned productions have constant and last-minute changes and updates to the plan. You need to establish how those changes will be communicated and approved by you and your field management team. Ask them what their plans for inclement weather are and what the basic work-day hours are like. Let them know you will likely need to irrigate, most likely at night but may need to run some zones during the day, depending on conditions. Assure them that in these cases you will ask the production team first if that is ok. You don’t want to ruin any expensive electronic equipment or worse create a potentially unsafe condition. Ask them if they have done this set-up at other stadiums or ballparks before? Make contact with the sports field manager at those other venues for a quick chat on how things went for them.

Before the production team shows up, place some signs at all entrances to the field. Something like “Welcome to Memorial Field. Please check in with field manager before stepping onto the playing surface.” Put a cell number on the signs in case something comes up after hours. They often start at ridiculously late or early times of day.

Once they are on site, bring the leads a printed detailed and up-to-date weather forecast the first thing every morning. They usually are not local, and weather is a big concern for the production teams. Get your best field work schedules to the production leader as early as you can and update any changes early in the mornings. Confirm the crew-call hours of work and discuss any irrigation you will do during their visit. Where will they leave any field equipment, trunks, cameras or other items at night when they leave for the day? Remind them there is always a chance for rain here, so they best cover their equipment for any precipitation or irrigation drift.

As the set-up work begins, observe the work. If you see something wrong, kindly, but firmly ask them to stop if it is damaging the surface. Then go talk with the leader about the situation. Don’t engage the production set-up workers directly, they are just doing their job usually and can only make minor adjustments. Engage the production team and let them know who you are. Asking them where they are from is always a good starter. I used to tell every production team on the field how they were the best yet we have worked with and how they cared so much about my field compared to the other networks. By game day, the camera operators were telling me how they would play with the green and blue filters just to make the field look its best!

Finally, after the game is over and the pressure is off. Give a team hat or some other small memento to the leader and maybe to anyone on the production team that went out of their way to help you. Chances are that team will be back again.

Turf Tips 101: Overseeding

August hails the start of the fall sports seasons and in the northern climates it is also a good time to start a good athletic field overseeding program that can help to increase grass coverage in the heavier worn areas of your fields.

Simply put, overseeding is the process of seeding an existing field for repair, and it involves subtle differences from traditional bare-soil grass seeding typically done at construction or for major renovations. Overseeding your grass fields in the heavier wear areas during the season can greatly improve grass cover and can improve the quality of the playing surface throughout the fall football/soccer seasons. This a distinctly different process from overseeding southern and transition zone bermudagrass fields in the fall for color and repair (a topic for future blogs), but there are some basic principles that do apply to both.

In-season overseeding can be done several ways, but the basic idea is that seed is relatively inexpensive compared to field repair through re-sodding worn areas. There are a few principles to keep in mind, but this does not have to be very difficult. So let’s look at a few methods and some of the concepts involved.

Seed Type. The first thing to do is consider the type (species) of grass seed that you will use for overseeding. Generally you will want to use the grass type that the field consists of. For example, if your field is a 100% Kentucky bluegrass turf, you may want to consider using only Kentucky bluegrass in your overseeding to keep the stand pure and maintain some of the benefits of Kentucky bluegrass. However, bluegrass seed is quite small compared to some grasses like perennial ryegrass. Every grass seedling has to live off the seed starch and ‘food’ package in the seed until it is mature enough to fend for itself and make all of its own food. Therefore, a larger seed type like perennial ryegrass will tend to better survive and establish during the wear and tear of in-season play. Just know that once you start introducing a significant amount of ryegrass seed into your stand of bluegrass, it will tend to dominate and can even take over. That said, if you can keep bluegrass in a heavy wear area anyway, why not try a grass like ryegrass.

Seeding rates. Overseeding into an existing turf stand, especially during play and traffic, is not generally as successful as bare soil seeding. Because you can’t always create the ideal conditions for the seedlings, many of them won’t make it to maturity and so we typically use higher seeding rates in an overseeding program. I like to use 1.5-4 times the seeding rate compared to bare soil seeding rates. So for overseeding I like to see Kentucky bluegrass seeded at 2-4 lbs. /1,000 sq. ft. and perennial ryegrasses overseeded at 10-30 lbs. /1,000 sq. ft. These are general guidelines and every situation calls for different rates to be successful. The thing to remember is that you are not keeping an adequate density of grass cover in these heavier wear areas for a reason. So be liberal with overseeding rates in high-traffic areas, and more cautious in lower wear areas. If over-crowding and juvenile turf becomes a problem, you can tone down your rates then.

Methods. Overseeding can be as simple as throwing out dry seed onto the surface of worn areas, like a soccer goal-mouth for example, and letting the players “cleat-in” the seed and plant it into the soil. This method is not the most effective in most cases, but it is the easiest. The key is to keep throwing seed out onto the areas routinely, like every two weeks or more.

Better success can be gained by disturbing the soil surface in some way before overseeding. Shallow core aeration, on a very tight pattern is the best way to prepare the seed bed. The seedling will be planted immediately with a simple brooming action after coring, then seeding. Other methods of disturbing the soil like solid-tine aeration, verticutting etc. can also aid in overseeding success. The more you can disturb the top 1/2 inch of the soil before overseeding, the better your success will be. However, disturbing the surface during the season can unduly loosen the playing surface and cause more physical damage from play. How much you disturb and open the surface before overseeding should be weighed against the play schedule and needs of the field.

Some commercial overseeding machines have been developed to combine the soil opening in some way with planting dry seed. I prefer the ones that poke holes in the surface and don’t cut shallow grooves. I figure, why tear out existing turf to plant new seed? It defeats the purpose in some ways. Again, a balance in how much you can disturb or open the playing surface must be achieved with experience.

A light-moderate topdressing with the appropriate soil material can help smooth out the surface and cover more seed, enhancing germination.

After you have planted the seed, a light rolling of the surface is a good idea to enhance the seed-to-soil contact, which will aid in germination. Most reel-type mowers with front and/or back rollers will work for this. Turn off the reels for this light, post overseeding rolling with a mower so you won’t blow seed around with the reels.

Balancing irrigation and moisture is a daily call often after overseeding. Ideally, you wet the field for two days, then keep it slightly moist. The field manager’s challenge is to balance the moisture needs of the germinating seed with the playability of the field surface. My basic posture is to not over water the seed, especially after an initial good soaking. Too wet of a surface can affect the safety and playability of the field. Once wetted, grass seed can be dried again, within reason, in my experience. So don’t over-water your newly overseeded areas or fields. It can be a delicate balance to achieve, but a critical one. It takes a lot of monitoring and adjusting of any irrigation cycles based on the weather.

Most grasses will germinate inside 1-2 weeks. One way to hasten the germination period is by “pre-germinating” your seed before planting it. I’ll describe that process in Septembers Tips from the Pros. Seedling grasses are especially prone to fungal diseases. Keep your eyes open.

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“Burns cost me my groundskeeping job at the school. And I’m too superstitious to take the one at the cemetery.” - Groundskeeper Willie from The Simpsons