Are turf football fields for Rutherford County a 'luxury or necessity?'

During the spring postseason, heavy rains forced a pair of sectional soccer matches involving Rutherford County teams to be moved out of county to Nolensville High School.

Built last year, Nolensville opened the door for Williamson County public schools to have  turf football fields. Brentwood High is getting it installed and Franklin is expected to be next on the list. Several schools in Knox County have already installed artificial turf football fields after a $10 million gift and from the Haslam family and Pilot Flying J.

How about Rutherford County?

While the notion of having turf fields draws favor from area coaches, it raises the age-old question when regarding major financial decisions.

"You have two things to consider," said Rutherford County Athletic Director Tim Tackett. "A: Is it good for the kids? B: Can we afford it? There's no question it would be a good thing. Would it be a financially beneficial thing?"

There are numerous positives to installing artificial turf. The biggest of those would be lack of maintenance required for grass fields. The upkeep for those fields is in the hands of team coaches and staff.

The next would help a wear-and-tear issue that is prevalent in the area.

"On a typical week in the fall, you could have as many as nine games (played on a high school football field)," said Siegel athletic director Greg Wyant, who is also a safety coach with Rutherford County Schools. "It happens all across the county. Some people don't understand how beat up these fields get."

The turf would also serve as practice fields, soccer fields and help with multiple-sport use.

The biggest negative, of course, is money. On the low end, it would cost approximately $500,000 to install turf at each school.

The programs would likely be responsible for funding each field.

"I don't know that a school can find $500,000," said Blackman football coach David Watson. "That's a lot to ask."

Riverdale attempted that a few years ago under Coach Ron Aydelott. The fundraising got off the ground but the project never came to fruition.

"It fell through at the last second," said Riverdale coach Will Kriesky. "That was a big goal for Coach Aydelott. We had a bunch of people that that were pledging and was going to work on a loan from the bank, but it fell through."

The other option would be having the school system fund the projects, as is the case in Williamson County.

For that to happen, schools would have to make their case with the school board, which in turn would take it to the Rutherford County Commission for a vote.

"All the schools would have to get it," Tackett said. "Best case scenario is $4-5 million. I'm not sure the board would commit to that. At some point, someone would have to be the voice. The board would look at it and see if it makes financial sense. The biggest sell would be to the 21 county commissioners."

Rutherford County commissioner Will Jordan said, to his knowledge, the issue has never been presented to the commission.

"I have no idea how it would play out," Jordan said. "We would have to look at the cost and go from there."

While turf fields would be expensive on the front end, the back-end maintenance would be considerably less than grass fields.

"We can easily spend $10,000-$20,000 alone on sod," Kriesky said. "You have sprinkers that break, fertilizer, buying paint for the field, upkeep on tractors. We pay someone to take care of the fields."

With everything involved, getting turf fields in Rutherford County may not be likely anytime soon. 

"We would love it, but do we need it?" Watson asked. "We do have a lot of use on our field — more than just football. You have middle school, soccer, youth leagues. There's only one or two days a week the field isn't being used.

"More communities are getting it. But, is it a luxury or a necessity? That's the question."

Reach Cecil Joyce at cjoyce@dnj.com or 615-278-5168 and on Twitter @Cecil_Joyce.