Lions Football has decided to abandon the offer of a free, used turf in favour of a brand new one for its outdoor field project at Bow Valley High School.
Cam Cote of Lions Football confirmed the decision to turn down the old McMahon Stadium turf last week, saying his organization had received several offers from turf manufacturers to supply Cochrane with a new turf.
“This resulted in some very aggressive pricing that we then relayed to our engineers, Morrison Hershfield,” said Cote, “and they recommended that we take advantage of the aggressive new turf pricing as it comes with an eight-year warranty and an expected lifespan of 12 years.”
John Haverstock, McMahon Stadium manager, said in February that the turf they were replacing could have been used for an additional two years at the pro level, and at the minor sport level possibly more.
Speaking to the Eagle last week, Haverstock said the choice to ditch the used turf was the right decision by Lions Football, and he would ‘question using an eight-year-old turf.’
Cote said Lions Football was preparing to send out bid packages for a new turf and still expects to begin construction on the field in mid-June, with completion sometime late-August.
Cote, however, is not divulging the kind of deal Lions Football was offered for a new turf field, saying they cannot share that information as the bids are carried out as a ‘commercially confidential bid process.’
Haverstock said the turf McMahon purchased in 2006 (the turf Lions Football is no longer receiving) came in at $750,000, but would not disclose how much the stadiums new turf cost.
Lions Football had estimated the cost of the turf field would be $1.4 million, and that was taking getting a free turf from McMahon into consideration.
Mayor Ivan Brooker and councillor Jeff Toews each agreed that despite the increased cost of the Lions Football turf project, council agreed to provide $500,000 funding to go toward lights, bleachers, fencing and other features, and not simply for the purchase of a turf.
Toews said that for him, there were alarm bells going off around the turf project, but he did want to support it in some form.
Brooker said he did not believe council would ‘back out’ of the project, and added that Lions Football would simply have to raise more funds to pay for the increased cost of a new turf.
Dean Lang, also with Lions Football, said they would not be approaching council again seeking additional funding for the project, as a user-pay model would provide for future maintenance.
Cote said that the projected user fees to use the field would not increase due to the purchase of a new turf.
Funding will be released to Lions Football once a development permit is issued for the project.
