When General Manager Tom Telesco and Head Coach Mike McCoy were hired a week apart back in January, both men declared they would be detail oriented. They were determined to leave no stone unturned in an effort to improve the San Diego Chargers in every way possible.
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True to their word, Chargers Park is undergoing a massive overhaul of its practice fields as they are being completely resodded with new grass for the first time since 2009. Usually, resodding occurs in patches with different portions being redone over a number of years. But with a new regime coming in, the decision was made six weeks ago to resod not just a portion of it but to do the entire 136,000 square foot field.
Director of Business Operations John Hinek, who oversees the team’s facility, was tasked with overseeing the project. According to Hinek, it has been a whirlwind to get the fields ready in time for mid-April. The team decided upon using a hybrid Bermuda sod which will be installed over the next four days. That comes on the heels of a full week of taking out the old grass. Also, over time, the field grew uneven due to different areas being resodded at different times. Thus, a laser was used to level the field to ensure it is even before the new grass was installed.
Overall, Hinek said the team did thorough research before committing to the project and have hired eight different vendors from across the country to complete different parts of the process. Once the field is complete, the team will be installing five applications of high end fertilizer over the next month to ensure it is ready for OTA’s and minicamps in April.
While for some it may be a simple process to get new grass installed, the fact of the matter is the Chargers did their due diligence to ensure the team has the best field possible for the start of the 2013 season.
