Ladd-Peebles Stadium To Get New Turf For 2013 Season

May 15, 2013 · By · Filed Under Football, News 
The Jaguar offense looks to the sideline for play adjustments against UTSA.

The Jaguar offense looks to the sideline for play adjustments against UTSA in August of 2012.

Ladd-Peebles Stadium will get new turf installed this summer prior to South Alabama’s 2013 football season opener on August 29.

The Mobile City Council voted unanimously for a $311,168 contract with Field Turf to replace Ladd-Peebles aging current turf. Mobile City Attorney Larry Wettermark estimated that the original installation was eight to 10 years old and is approaching it’s end of life. He was worried that if a Senior Bowl player was to get injured by faulty turf, it would jeopardize the event in Mobile.

The city will pay for the turf from the city’s capital escrow account, which is one of the accounts that receives revenues from the penny sales tax that was passed by the city council in October of last year.

Field Turf was the low bidder. Field Turf’s base bid was $295,168 and $6,000 to maintain certain equipment on the field plus $10,000 in contingency funds. Hellas Sports Construction’s base bid was $343,435.

Field Turf has had some issues recently with turf degradation and has admitted to replacing some fields across the nation, including some in Florida. The company believes the problem stems from a supply of defective fiber. The city council did not discuss any of the companies issues during its meeting. But the contract includes an eight-year warranty for defects in materials and workmanship.

Wettermark said that both products from the two bidders were of equal quality and noted that the city’s recommendation was to accept the lowest bidder.

The contract also includes two new goal posts which will be paid for by the Ladd-Peebles Stadium Board. Wettermark introduced the extra expenditure for the first time during the city council meeting and expressed that the timing of the expenditure was important due to the short window before the Jaguars football season.

Work is expected to begin on May 21 and should be completed in July.

City Council President Reggie Copeland’s only concern was that the contract meets the NFL requirements for the Senior Bowl with striping that would be adequate to take care of the needs for the Senior Bowl, South Alabama and GoDaddy.com Bowl.

Copeland also indicated that, if properly maintained with the equipment, they should be a longer life than they did with the previous turf installation.

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