Finley Stadium getting new turf in December
Finley Stadium is getting a new turf for Christmas.
The AstroTurf surface that has been used since 2015 for the Chattanooga Football Club soccer team and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football and women’s soccer programs will be replaced in December due to a deteriorating component in the carpet. AstroTurf representatives recently inspected Finley Stadium and agreed that a change was needed and needed relatively soon.
“As soon as they saw it, they manned up to it,” said Stadium Corp. vice chair Mike Davis, who oversees capital projects at the facility built in 1997. “There was no debate. They stepped right up.”
Stadium Corp. board members voted in June 2014 for a $600,000 two-year fundraising initiative that would cover the cost of the field, which wound up being $525,000. Davis said the field came with an eight-year warranty and is being replaced at no expense.
Due to the installation timetable, there were no windows available before December due to the busy summer and fall schedules with CFC, which is playing into the autumn months for the first time, and UTC, which is roughly a month away from football preseason camp.
AstroTurf officials have assured Stadium Corp. board members that the current field will provide no risks in its final months.
“The board said everything was safe, and that was our main concern,” UTC athletic director Mark Wharton said. “If we know it’s coming in December, that’s short-term pain for long-term gain. We just want our athletes, both in football and soccer, to be safe.”
Finley Stadium’s current field has allowed for better transformations from football to soccer and back than its predecessor, though it won’t last as long.
The first AstroTurf field at Finley was installed in 2005, which followed a 2004 Football Championship Subdivision title showdown between James Madison and Montana in which flying chunks of natural grass upstaged the victory by the Dukes.
Wharton said that first-year Mocs head football coach Rusty Wright, who conducted both spring practice and a summer camp earlier this month at Finley, had noticed the advanced weathering of the surface.
“He was surprised at the deterioration in such a small amount of time,” Wharton said. “I remember noticing from our final game last fall to the spring game that you could see some shocking changes. I wasn’t verbal about it, but the most important thing is that we’re reassured that the safety is there.
“I just hate that we’re bringing James Madison here and we couldn’t have things a little more aesthetically pleasing, but it will be fine.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.