MISSOULA — Tire tracks and ripped up sod mark multiple fields at Fort Missoula.
As the City of Missoula works to identify who and what caused the damage, youth soccer organizations are scrambling to adjust with less field space.
Thousands of kids call the Fort fields their home turf. Around 3,300 of those players come from the Missoula Strikers alone.
The YMCA also uses fields at the Fort each weekend for their programming.
With damage to the fields, games and practices need to be moved causing a ripple effect for players, parents, and referees.
"For example, on April 18th we have nearly 100 games scheduled on these fields behind us. So, with this damage, those games are being rushed rescheduled. That also means that we need to schedule about 300 referees to cover those games, and that currently can't be done until the games are rescheduled. Also that's a lot of lost revenue because every time someone plays on these fields they rent them from the city," Missoula Referee Assignor Devin Harbour said.
When grass is damaged, it can take a while before it’s able to be played on again.
"Generally it takes a field an entire year to recover. Like right now grass is not yet growing, but in order to get the repairs you would have to do that before the grass starts growing. But more importantly, fields are sensitive. If you have new grass, generally you don't play on any field with grass that's one year old. So, you wait till the second year," Harbour offered.
MTN has connected with the City to learn more about the exact cost and repair timeline.
We'll keep you updated when they share more.
