Sporting KC players unhappy with quality of Sporting Park field

The Sporting Park field was left with a bevy of divots after Sporting KC’s match with Houston on Tuesday night, and its lack of solid footing drew the criticism of several players.

Sporting KC coach Peter Vermes said if the field doesn’t improve in the next two or three days, the club may lay down an entirely new field inside the stadium.

“If we can’t get this thing sorted out in the next few days, then absolutely, it’s something we have to do,” Vermes said.

The field has a Bermuda grass base, and it’s over-seeded with rye grass during the fall. The rye grass is generally wiped away as the temperatures heat up in the summer, but the limited number of hot-weather days in the early portion of the summer allowed the rye grass to remain longer than expected.

“It can’t perform in this type of heat,” Vermes said. “As you could see, the field conditions were not good. The guys were planting their foot, and the turf was going out. That was a real issue. It was affecting the game for both teams.

“It’s a shame, but it was really because of the cool summer.”

This story was originally published July 22, 2015 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Sporting KC players unhappy with quality of Sporting Park field."