It couldn’t be a worse time for prep football players. With the season scheduled to begin in the next few weeks, five high schools that had all-weather sports fields (commonly known as “Astroturf”) installed by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) during the past five years must scramble to replace the turf—and find another field to play—because the material used is defective.
Work is in progress on replacing the fields at Diego Rivera High and Washington Preparatory in South Los Angeles, as well as Fairfax High, Sotomayor High and at El Camino Real High in Woodland Hills. The teams must switch home games to road games or find alternative sites. Diego Rivera High is scheduled to begin field repairs later this month; Washington Preparatory is delaying replacement of its field until after the 2015 season. The playing field at Sandra Cisneros Learning Academy must also be replaced.
Most of the cases involve tiny pellets used in forming the base of the synthetic surfaces which have melted under extreme heat, according to school and district officials.
“The pellets started melting,” said Richard Yi, athletic director at El Camino Real High. The field was installed in 2010—reportedly guaranteed by contractors for 10 years—and “it gradually spread,” Yi explained.
Fairfax replaced its grass field with the new turf two years ago. Now the melting pellets have created what Coach Shane Cox calls a “clay-like solution” which has resulted in a much harder than normal playing surface.
Diego Rivera is a relatively new campus, opening in 2011. Former football coach Jim McElroy said recently “Pellets were melting big time. It looked like a bunch of gum all over the place.”
Mark Hovatter, chief of facilities for the school district, said the agency would have to spend between $500,000 and $800,000 to replace the defective fields while at the same time trying to seek any and all reimbursement from the manufacturer, Changzhou Regalfill Rubber Co. based in China. Hovatter said the pellets were supposed to withstand heat up to 180 degrees, but in tests had melted at 140 degrees. Because synthetic playing fields absorb a high degree of heat, the resulting surface temperatures were much higher than measured in the surrounding air.
Synthetic playing fields have become popular nationwide—particularly in California during the drought—simply because they don’t require water. They’re not inexpensive, said school officials; installation costs can approach $2 million, including grading and drainage systems. There has also been concern about the materials being linked to cancer. In 2009, citing health concerns, the LAUSD said it would no longer use materials from recycled tires on its grass fields.
