The new artificial turf is now in place at the Warner Rentals Field at Hillside Stadium.
It is the latest of several projects at the facility including a new scoreboard and updated sound system and lighting, which occurred last year.
Speaking on The Jeff Andreas Show, the city’s Civic Facilities Manager Jeff Putnam says the turf replacement came in a little over budget.
“Our original budget was $600,000. We came in just a little bit over at $647,000 and that was just mainly due to the unanticipated repairs to the e-layer and the extra time it took which was not unexpected,” he said.
“Well it certainly helps to have modern state of the art facilities. This one piece of it.”
The new field uses the same paint and line technique as the NFL, CFL, and other professional leagues.
“You’re not going to see as many lines. Some of the feedback we got was there’s an awful lot of lines” added Putnam.
“We had field lacrosse lines, we had NFL lines, CFL and soccer and FIFA lines. So what we’ve done is gone down to just two of our main users. The CFL and the soccer lines and for all the other sports we will put lines down when we host those events.”
The City’s Business Operations and Events Supervisor Sean Smith says Hillside Stadium is a premier recreation venue for locals and visitors of all levels.
“From casual walkers to Olympic hopefuls and everything in between,” he noted. “These updates keep the facility at the top of its game so our athletes can do the same.”
Head Coach of the TRU WolfPack Women’s Soccer team Mark Pennington says he is delighted to have the new turf field at the stadium.
“This new turf is a huge plus for our WolfPack Women’s Soccer team and for the entire community,” he said. “We believe that our Hillside venue is one of the best in the country and now we have a turf to match, making us one of the premier soccer venues in Canada.”
Hillside Stadium opened to the public in 2006 with Canada’s first FIFA-certified artificial field and was showcased by the World Under 19 Mexico-Canada Soccer Game. The facility has been hosting the BC Lions Training Camp since 2010 and is home to the Kamloops Broncos and TRU WolfPack Soccer.
The final phase of upgrades will be the track replacement, which Council deferred due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is currently scheduled for 2021.
