University of Lethbridge Community Stadium soon to have new turf for athletes

The University of Lethbridge is getting a new turf at the Community Stadium consisting of a new product from FieldTurf Canada. The existing groundwork, which was laid at the stadium for the last 12 years, needed replacement after it was starting to tear up. Teams will soon get to play on about a million pounds or over 453,000 kg of infill ultimately making the field better for the players.

“With this turf system, we are using our field turf core fibre, which is the thickest, strongest fibre that we have ever developed in our history. It’s a FIFA quality pro-certified product. It’s literally at the highest end of the spectrum. So what you see here is at the top end of the spectrum in terms of quality of turfed fields in existents today,” said Kevan Pipe, Regional Vice President for FieldTurf Canada.

“I think our soccer players for sure will feel like they are playing on more of a natural turf surface than the previous surface. Rugby and football will notice probably it’s a little bit softer on the impact as well too, and the bounce of the ball will certainly be different on kicks and that sort of thing. We feel that the old system while it served us well for 12 years was due for the upgrade and I think the athletes and our constituent users are really going to enjoy this field,” Bill Halma, Executive Director of Horns Recreation.

The cost of this project is just over $900,000 with the cost shared between the university and the city.