Guest post written by Cameron Connelly, Content Marketing Intern, The Sports Facilities Companies.
Have you ever gone by a soccer field when it wasn’t being used and noticed that the soccer goals were flipped around and chained to the fence? That is a standard practice because the goals are cumbersome and can handle pretty much anything that nature might throw at it. But that is not the case with all outdoor sports equipment, so there needs to be a place for the less resilient equipment to go during inclement weather to ensure that it will live to serve you for many seasons to come. This blog post will discuss some best practices for outdoor sports facility storage size, location, and design that we have found through our work across hundreds of sports facilities that we have helped develop and manage over the years.
Storage Size
The amount of storage that an outdoor sports facility will need varies greatly from facility to facility depending on the region, the type of turf used, and the uses of the facility. The further that a facility is from the equator, the more storage that it will need to store and protect equipment from the ice and snow during winter. Also, the more natural grass that your facility has, either on the fields or in the walking areas between, the more storage you will need for mowing equipment and other items used for grass maintenance, including fertilizer, overseed, and topdressing. Beyond those factors, the biggest factor in determining how much storage your facility will need is intended field use. Some of our clients have temporary fencing to split their larger fields into two or more smaller fields for tournaments or camps. The temporary fencing needs to be stored somewhere when it isn’t in use. While it doesn’t need to be stored indoors, it should be stored under cover to extend its life.
Sports Facility Storage Location
The location of your outdoor sports facility storage is less important than the size and design, but we do recommend tucking it away towards the back of the complex. In addition to the dedicated storage building, if your facility has multiple buildings for admissions, concessions, and maintenance, we recommend expanding or adding auxiliary storage to those places to increase storage without changing the layout and design of the sports complex. In doing this, you can also cut down the time it takes to transfer items from the storage locations that may need to be retrieved quickly, such as cups and plates at the concession stand.
Storage Design
The maintenance building that holds all the golf carts/utility vehicles or any lawn equipment should have rolling overhead doors on both sides of the building to allow for those vehicles to drive straight into the facility. This will enhance the use of the building and make for easy storage and retrieval of those vehicles. If there are any other storage areas in the sports complex, we recommend to either use the rolling overhead doors or a set of large double doors with a removable center beam so that any large items can fit in and out with ease.
If you are looking to design a facility that also features indoor recreation space, we have a separate blog post discussing our recommendations for indoor sports storage that you can find here. And if you have any questions or if you would like to inquire about our venue planning services, please feel free to contact us at 727-474-3845.
