Spokane’s $31 Million Downtown Decision
Sign the petition and encourage the city
and school district to say “NO” to a plastic field.
The idea of a new outdoor stadium in downtown Spokane just makes sense. It’s a great location, and the families of the Spokane Public Schools District deserve a safe place for their athletes to compete. The citizens of Spokane also deserve a multi-use stadium that serves an exciting new USL team and other events throughout the year in an environmentally-conscious space.
We believe that the new downtown stadium is no place for a plastic, synthetic turf field. Synthetic, or artificial, turf fields are dangerously hot, toxic, expensive, hazardous for athletes, and a disposal nightmare for communities. Natural turfgrass is the safest choice for Spokane, and this region is the finest turfgrass seed growing region in the world.
Washington grown turfgrass has been used in professional soccer stadiums, sports fields, and Olympic fields throughout the world. Washington turfgrass is used in Tacoma’s Cheney Stadium, home to the USL’s Tacoma Defiance. Washington farmers work diligently to grow the best seed in the world for our parks, fields, and lawns. This new field could be the flagship for a more environmentally responsible Washington.
Natural turfgrass is the safest choice for our communities. Synthetic turf is not a safe playing field for our athletes and children. Synthetic turf fields (synturf) are:
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Dangerously Hot: Synturf can get lethally hot, while grass stays near or below ambient temperatures. From 1995-2020, 51 high school football players in the United States died from heat stroke during football-related activity, according to the University of North Carolina’s National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research. There were three deaths attributed to heat stroke in 2020, and so far in 2021, there have been four.
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Toxic: It’s toxic—to athletes and the environment. There are undisclosed mixes of endocrine disruptors, known and probable human carcinogens, lead, PFAS, flame retardants,VOCs, SVOCs, and phthalates. Synturf releases a rising amount of microplastics as it breaks down. This stadium will be near the Spokane River...how much toxic infill will waste away through the stormwater discharge and dust?
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Expensive: Most new synturfs run $1M to $1.4 to install, and $700k+ to replace. This is in addition to maintenance (to maintain warranty), removal, hauling, and responsible disposal
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Hazardous for Athletes: Synturf is proven in peer-reviewed studies, published in leading orthopedic journals, to generate double the foot and ankle injuries compared to grass, even on the finest synturf the NFL can buy. Studies show dramatically higher non-contact injuries—from interaction of an athlete and the surface—for both torque (twisting, ankle, ACL, knee) & impact (concussion, joint impact).
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A Disposal Nightmare: Each average synturf sports field contains more than 40,000 rubber tires, or 225+ tons of unrecyclable, toxic, mixed-plastic waste needing to be replaced every seven to 10 years. During each of those years, the industry concedes that every single field will lose one to five tons of infill per year.
We encourage Spokane Public Schools and the city of Spokane to fully investigate the problems this material has on our community over time. Neither the Environmental Protection Agency nor the Consumer Product Safety Commission have deemed these plastic fields safe.
Safer Fields for All and the Washington Turfgrass Seed Commission is committed to an environmentally responsible and safe Washington for future generations and current citizens.