Aloha Stadium may get grass field for next season
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Aloha Stadium officials are strongly considering installing a grass or "artificial grass" field in time for the 2002 college football season, stadium spokesman Les Keiter said yesterday.
"Nothing is written in concrete," Keiter said, "but I know it's going to happen, probably for next year."
As a condition of playing the Pro Bowl here each year, the National Football League has requested a change in Aloha Stadium's artificial playing surface.
Keiter said stadium officials have discussed installing either grass or FieldTurf, whose base is made with a mixture of ground recycled tires.
FieldTurf is like "artificial grass," said St. Louis School spokesman Georges Gilbert, whose school installed that turf for its practice field last year. "Kids love to lie on it. You don't get turf burns from playing on it."
In 1999, Aloha Stadium paid $2.3 million to install AstroTurf and replace the warning-track area, stadium engineers said. The AstroTurf has a lifespan of another three years.
While AstroTurf is easy to maintain and has not been traced to any recent injuries at Aloha Stadium, NFL and UH officials have strongly recommended going to grass.
"Grass is safer," UH coach June Jones said.
"We've said all along the big problem with natural grass is rainy weather," Keiter said. "We'd wind up with a quagmire after the high school games. But reality is setting in, and the move is to natural grass. I think it'll happen a year hence."
Stadium officials estimate it will cost between $2.5 million and $3 million to install a grass field and sprinkler system. It costs about $250,000 annually to maintain AstroTurf; a grass field, including labor, will cost at least $1 million annually in maintenance.
What's more, it would take more time to convert the stadium, whose end-zone sections are built on rails, into baseball configuration while the new grass is planted. The stadium can currently be converted within 48 hours.
Gilbert said it cost less than $1 million to install FieldTurf at St. Louis. But St. Louis' practice area is smaller than the Aloha Stadium playing area.
The installation of grass or FieldTurf will be paid from the stadium's Special Fund using money earned from events at Aloha Stadium.
