Aloha Stadium turf work to begin today
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
The installation of a new grass-like surface at Aloha Stadium will start today and is scheduled to be ready in mid-May, according to officials from the turf company and Aloha Stadium.
The new turf was scheduled to be completed by February's Pro Bowl, but concerns over rushed construction, an unfinished contract and weather unpredictability prompted Gov. Linda Lingle and the NFL to delay the installation until this month.
The Aloha Stadium turf will be replaced by FieldTurf, a playing surface in which blade-like material is placed over a sand-and-rubber base. The total contract, which includes installation, is $1.3 million.
"Construction is starting (today)," FieldTurf CEO John Gilman said. "The famed AstroTurf is coming off and we go from there. It should be finished by the third week in May."
A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. today at Aloha Stadium, according to Aloha Stadium manager Eddie Hayashi.
"There isn't any dirt, so they're just going to shovel some turf," Hayashi said of the ceremony.
The field will be ready for the 'Aiea High School graduation May 24. The O'ahu Interscholastic Association baseball championship, on May 10, will likely not be at the stadium, Hayashi said.
"We wish it could be ready for the (OIA baseball championship), but I don't think so," he said.
Hayashi said George Toma, a renowned grass consultant who manicures the best fields in professional sports, has agreed to help with the project.
"He's going to see the project right through from the beginning to the end," Hayashi said. "He's the expert on fields. He knows about AstroTurf and other types of turf."
Gilman said the AstroTurf will be removed in three or four days. In the next two or three weeks, crews will reconstruct and level the subsurface. Gilman said the field will need to be "relatively level" to be certified to host major Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) sanctioned soccer competitions.
The final three weeks of installation will have crews laying in the field and inserting the proper infilling, Gilman said. The field will be done in baseball configuration and scaled back when football season starts, he said.
Crews will also construct extra drainage underneath the field so water won't pool, Hayashi said.
Officials are still undecided on what to do with the "acres" of AstroTurf that will be removed from Aloha Stadium, said Stadium Authority board member Robin Campaniano, who chairs the turf installation committee.
"It's kind of valuable stuff," Campaniano said. "No one can figure out really what to do with it.
"I know some high school teams would love to get their hands on the turf. Not necessarily for carpeting their field, but using it as a batting cage, or a runway for their pole vaulting. We don't want to create any resentment if we give it to one school, and another school is going to say, 'Why did you give it to that school?'"
The turf replacement was a key issue in keeping the Pro Bowl in Hawai'i. The replacement turf also was part of a contract in 2000 between the Hawai'i Tourism Authority and the Pro Bowl.
The NFL prefers natural grass or FieldTurf because its players have complained about injuries suffered on AstroTurf. University of Hawai'i football coach June Jones has also advocated for a new playing surface.
"I can't wait until it's done," Gilman said. "I'm sure June Jones can't wait until it's done and get his players on a field where they can perform at their highest abilities and in a safe manner. It's a long time coming for not only June ... who deserves better and some of his opponents who didn't want to come in and play on that other stuff."
