Kauffman Stadium is receiving an offseason upgrade, as the Kansas City Royals are moving forward with a replacement of the playing surface.
Now that their season has concluded, the Royals are proceeding with work to replace the playing field at Kauffman Stadium. This will be the first time the team has completed a field replacement since 1994, and the upcoming project should lead to a significant improvement.
While the playing surface will receive new sod as a result, plans are also in place for a significant upgrade to the irrigation system. The Royals are doing this to ensure that the ballpark does not have drainage issues going forward, according to head groundskeeper Trevor Vance. More from The Kansas City Star:
“Everything below surface, it started to become kind of like an old house,” Vance explained. “The irrigation is showing some age and it wasn’t draining as well as it had. Pipes were getting weak. We had repeated repairs with the system.”
When the field was installed, it was able to drain 20 inches of rain in an hour. Vance said testing showed that was down to 5 inches of rain per hour.
“The last thing we wanted to do was have our drainage system fail us,” Vance said. “It was getting up there in age.”
Work on the project has already begun, According to The Star, the Royals want to begin laying sod by November 13, and wrap up the work by November 22.