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All of it means a lot more work for the grounds crews. A normal soccer game entails players sliding, lunging and kicking out divots; the mound has to be taken down and reassembled; and grass must be placed over dirt areas. For concerts, boards are set atop the grass for hours at a time.
One day it’s a Bad Bunny concert at Yankee Stadium, the next day it’s a bad hop.
And groundskeepers shudder at the thought of motocross.
“The field used to be hallowed ground,” Burns said. “Now it’s another commodity for sale, another revenue stream.”
But groundskeepers are learning how to accommodate multiple events, and innovations in field maintenance help to counter the stresses.
In San Francisco, Elliott is at the forefront of baseball’s agricultural tech boom. In addition to the drone, he uses robotic mowers and Artificial Athlete, a device developed by Raw Stadia, a British company specializing in turf management for English soccer teams. Elliott places the portable tool in 15 spots on the field, where it releases a Clegg impact hammer to test various properties of the surfaces, like density, shock absorption, spring rate and recovery time. The data can be combined with information on individual athletes to enhance performance and health.
Elliott also brews his own microbial slurries, which are injected into the irrigation system and then sprayed on the grass. The specific microscopic organisms, including nitrogen fixers, enhance plant growth and health.
“It’s preventative medicine,” he said, “like eating vegetables.”
Elliott shares all his information with colleagues around the league, and once a year they gather to share notes and compare best practices. Where there was once gamesmanship, there is now communal knowledge that helps ensure every M.L.B. field is a suitable stage for the games played on them.
“The players are the best athletes in the world,” Sherry said, “and we are all the best groundskeepers in the world.”
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