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Invesco field one tough turf
By Michele Ames, News Staff Writer Techno turf. The $1.5 million patch of grass that is home to the Broncos blends the top playing-field surface science on the market, along with some Colorado color. "We will have a stable and safe field, no matter what condition the grass is in," said Ross Kurcab, sports turf manager for the Denver Broncos. "There's a lot of good turf technology out there. This is the only field that has them all." The 89,000 square feet of turf used to cover the field and sideline areas was grown at Graff's Turf Farm in Fort Morgan. It's a blend of bluegrass grown especially for Denver's altitude and weather. That sod was laid on an intricate system that took about four months to build. It is designed to keep the playing surface dry and warm. The grass is growing on three layers. The top one is native soil that has been compacted. Next, workers put down about 4 inches of small gravel. Then they placed a peat moss mixture that forms the base for the sod to grow. The levels under the sod make the grass extremely porous and allow the field to handle 5 inches of rain an hour without becoming soggy. If the field gets too damp, vent pipes under the surface are hooked to large vacuums on either side of the field and can suck off extra moisture. Inside the gravel layer, about 21 miles of water pipe zigzag the field. That pipe allows warm water to gently heat the sod and keep it from freezing. The most advanced part of the field might be in the sod itself. To make the grass stronger and more durable, 17 million pieces of plastic grass were sewn in by three machines working 24 hours a day for three weeks. The fake grass, which is nearly invisible to the eye and impossible to feel, was inserted about 7 inches below the turf surface and reaches an inch above. The entire system can be monitored through the 14 sensors planted around the field. The sensors measure everything from soil temperature to moisture levels. Kurcab can tap into those measurements from anywhere he can get a telephone connection for his laptop's modem. For a perfectionist like Kurcab, that's irresistible. "You're constantly looking at it. You can't let it go," Kurcab said. "In some ways, it's like a newborn child. You just don't want to leave it."
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