6B(4) Staff report on Coveleski Stadium improvements

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17. Military Appreciation Night- Discounted tickets to families of our military men and women. Celebration ceremony pre -game involving local military support groups. 18. Jewish Heritage Night- Celebration of our Jewish community- Discounted tickets 19. Catholic Education Night - Celebration of Catholic Education - Discounted tickets 20. Miller's Vets presented the colors at eight of our 2010 home games and look forward to having them at many more games in 2011. 21. The Cove was the host site for prostate cancer screenings 22. The Upper Deck has been the host site for many community events such as baseball for the disabled and discounted luncheons for groups with very low funding. 23. Free tables on the concourse for many community not - for - profit organizations. 24. Friday and 4tn of July Fireworks- The South Bend Silver Hawks have Friday fireworks starting in late May and in 2010 were the only local site for the 4 'h of July firework celebrations. Thousands of children and families enjoy 12 nights of summer fireworks at the end of our ball games The artificial turf discussion Below are some of the issues that the South Bend Silver Hawks endured during the 2010 season due to field conditions. • Loss of six games due to rain, no drainage and outfield area being underwater. We also lost six games in 2009 with same conditions. • Almost had to cancel high school sectionals due to outfield conditions with no acceptable local facility to move this competition to. • With any significant rainfall, we cannot allow any non - Silver Hawk event on the field as the wet ground would be torn up and we would not have time to replace with new sod which is costly. • Presently, we have to build "field repair" into each contract with any outside group which is very concerning to youth baseball or high school sports with very limited funding • On any off day we could not schedule or partner with youth baseball due to field wear and tear from our previous home stand. • On a Silver Hawk game day, the grounds crew is on the field by 7:00am cutting and preparing field as professional teams are on the field by 1:00pm for a 7:00pm game for infield and batting practice. • The Silver Hawks have anywhere between three -day homestands to thirteen -day homestands. This means we could have three days in a row with home games or up to thirteen days in a row. Once a home stand is over, it takes a day or more to get the field back in shape for our next homestand and then a day or two prior to our next round of games to prepare the field. There are hours of cutting, trimming, fertilizing and watering the fields to maintain the standard that professional baseball holds us accountable to. With these hours of work, we are very limited to being able to hold any outside baseball or other events on our field. Therefore, our ability to partner with youth sports and local businesses for on -field events has been very limited. Artificial Turf Advantages • Looks and feels like natural grass - all year round, no matter the weather