EAGAN, Minn. —The sod installation for the Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center practice fields was recently completed.
Rolls of 100-percent Kentucky Bluegrass that was seeded to the Vikings specifications more than a year ago by Graff's Turf in Fort Morgan, Colorado, were driven 14 hours by waves of refrigeration trucks.
A total of four fields were completed in north and south squares that together result in 360,000 square feet across four fields. The south square that contains two fields was completed first. The north square is equipped with thicker sod and designed for use during colder months and intended to be ready for use next April when Vikings players begin the 2018 offseason workout program.
Additionally, the Vikings Turf Team has built a 3,200-square-foot nursery for additional sod that can be used to patch significant divots.
Goalposts were assembled as a check but then removed for winter.
Hardscapes and landscaping remain ongoing, and the fields' irrigation system soon will be blown out for the upcoming winter.
On Tuesday the turf install began at the TCO Performance Center in Eagan.
The irrigation system, from Bloomington's The Toro Company, is only one set of pipes below the north fields. The north square also is equipped with an underground heating system.
Vikings Turf Manager Grant Davisson said boilers were commissioned this week, providing heat as the air begins to cool.
"Want to keep the fields at 50 (degrees Fahrenheit)," Davisson said. "We'll test the boilers until the end of November. We'll just keep it at 38 in the winter."
The heating system is comprised of 65 miles of pipes filled with 15,000 gallons of glycol that was transported by three tankers from Des Moines, Iowa.
Work is continuing on the stadium, indoor practice facility and office/meeting spaces.
Davisson said the turf installation for the Indoor Practice Facility will begin in the middle of January and be done, "probably in the middle of February." The turf for TCO Stadium will be installed later in 2018.
Davisson, whose Twitter handle is @grdturf, and his team post updates on social media using #mvturf.
