Georgia football makes it a practice to stay on top of facilities, but the Bulldogs grass practice field situation has been an exception.
That will change when Spec Towns Track gets a new home on South Milledge Avenue — across from UGA’s softball and soccer facilities — in January.
Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks confirmed that the football program will acquire the space where the UGA track facility is currently located for practice fields and parking.
“I came up through facilities, so I know the damage (of overuse) and how hard it is to maintain one-and-a-half practice fields,” Brooks said. “So, being able to add a couple of fields will really give us versatility, not only how we practice and our functionality, but also how we can rotate and not use the same field every day — it’s going to help the life of those fields when you’re not wearing out the same spots.”
Head coach Kirby Smart felt strongly enough about the upgrade to make a rare in-person visit at the UGA spring athletics board meeting two years ago to stump for the new track facility.
“What does it mean to football? For us, we’re one of only two programs in the SEC that do not have natural grass football fields side by side,” Smart said at the 2023 UGA athletics board spring meetings.
“We have an indoor (football) facility that’s state of the art, but it is a turf field and it is beside our grass field.”
Smart pointed out UGA spent $1.36 million sodding and resodding its one grass practice field from February 2022 to February 2023.
“We’re on it continuously,” Smart said. “Why do we want to practice on grass instead of turf? It’s safer.”
Smart explained how Georgia could minimize some injuries with the addition of another grass practice field, citing a 2023 National Football League Players Association study.
The Georgia track program, fresh off the women winning the SEC outdoor track championships and the men finishing second in the league, will also benefit greatly from the new track facility.
“We broke ground on that (track facility) last August, but a lot of the work didn’t get noticed at first (from passersby) because there was a lot of underground utility work being done,” Brooks said. “But now you can see the grandstand coming up and the track being formed.”
Brooks said the amount of facilities in the area should lead to a unique setting.
“Having soccer, softball, track and golf all in that same area,” Brooks said, “will make it like an Olympic Village and really enhance that South Milledge area.”
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