Volcanoes Stadium's new turf baseball field is booked every weekend through October
The formerly pristine grass field at Volcanoes Stadium was exposed dirt for about three months this winter as the project to install a turf field hit snags, like ground that was too soft, requiring tons of rock to be added and mixed in, delaying the project.
The striped turf field was first used Feb. 9 when McNary’s baseball team held practice on it. Events are scheduled on the field every weekend through October, said Mickey Walker, the chief executive officer of the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes.
The Volcanoes were dropped as an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants in 2020. That led the organization to launch an independent four-team Mavericks League. Suddenly, there were 99 games being held on the field each year rather than 38, and the grass wasn’t holding up.
The mound on the new turf field is movable, which allows the 160,000-square-foot playing field to be used for softball, youth baseball and up to two soccer fields at a time.
“For a variety of reasons, but I think the biggest one is having it sit basically vacant for 320 days out of the year felt like malpractice, almost,” said Walker.
The Volcanoes signed a lease with Keizer — which owns the ground the stadium occupies — in 1997, and the team moved that year from Bellingham, Washingon. The team signed a 10-year extension in 2015, and the current lease runs to 2044. The city gets paid 5% of all ticket sales for games and events in the stadium and 20% for parking, according to the original contract.
Under the contract, the team has to receive approval from the city for all improvements in excess of $100,000. The Keizer City Council last year gave its approval to add turf and for new LED lighting.
Walker said the turf was purchased at a discount through the Community Sports Development Alliance, but the rest of the estimated $2.2 million was self-funded.
“It was privately funded by the Walker family, is the best way to say it,” he said. “But really it was by the Volcanoes, Sports Enterprises Inc. Not public funded at all.”
Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Volcanoes Stadium's new turf makes it a multi-use facility
