Soil Scout Sensor 7

INTERVIEW
"Multiple depths are significant for us
because that is what runs the hydronic
heating," he explains. "It goes off of the
three-inch average soil temperature. If that
drops below a half degree, then the heating
kicks in.
"You have to rely on those to run the
system, and we have no issues with that.
It's an awesome technology to have once
you have it and know how reliable it is."
Time doesn't stand still in MLS for long.
Superstars such as David Beckham come
as players and return as club owners, and
the league's stature grows to attract this
generation's greatest player, Lionel Messi.
Matching the pace of change is
imperative so you're not left behind, but in
the Crew, MLS has a team setting the pace
from a grounds perspective, which Andrew
thinks benefits the league.
"Being in this league for nine years, it
has grown immensely. Just being on the
groundskeeping side, you see all of the new
facilities and teams coming in, building new
stadiums and training fields, and putting in
the right technologies for those fields.
"I think that goes a long way from the
groundskeeping side in improving the
league for the long term. It's been crazy
from where we've come from at our old
training fields and even our old stadium.
"Our old stadium was great, other teams
loved coming here, but it was just a sandbased
system that hadn't been replaced
since 2006. So it was a 14-year-old field
we did what we could with, and going from
that to having all this, it shows there's a lot
of new technology in the groundskeeping
world that will help us become even better.
"Ours was the first stadium built, and we
were the first team in the league. Now we
have our second stadium and OHPC, so I'd
say Columbus Crew knows you have to keep
growing with the league."
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