The Masterclass gets ready for baseball-debut at Citi Field

Back-to-back games for seven consecutive days, a triangular stadium layout, the transition between grass and dirt, and slides on nearly every play—managing a baseball field is certainly a world apart from a football pitch. Bill Deacon, Senior Director of Field Operations, is responsible for the playing surface at the iconic Citi Field Stadium, home of the New York Mets and one of the host venues for this year’s Masterclass.

Bill shares unique insights about his role, the challenges of managing a baseball field, the use of LED grow lights, transforming the field for football, and what attendees can look forward to at the Masterclass.

Maintaining a baseball field

Hosting 81 games per season is a significant challenge for the grounds team, especially considering the baseball season lasts just six months, from late March to early October. The schedule follows a pattern of 7–10 days of home games, followed by 7–10 days of away games, and so on. This setup requires a carefully planned strategy, as Bill explains: “We do most of our work when the team’s away, like aerification, for example. During a home game period, the grass is only mowed, with no additional maintenance taking place.”

Interestingly, during games, most players are on the dirt rather than the grass. Only the three outfielders play on the grass. “The majority of the game is played on the infield dirt. That’s where you prove yourself as a baseball groundskeeper. The most critical aspect is how the ball bounces in that area—it’s where we spend most of our time,” Bill shares.

Fast grass

Bill has witnessed the evolution of baseball over the years, and the field’s grass has become a key factor in that transformation. “The game has gotten much faster over the last 10–15 years,” he explains. “Teams are focusing more on offence, so they prefer the field to be as fast as possible to allow the ball to get through on hits. This style of play requires dynamic and athletic players, which makes the game even more exciting to watch.”

Elaborating on the grass, Bill shares: “We use 100% Kentucky Bluegrass, which we maintain as short as possible, around 3/4 of an inch (20 mm). That’s the minimum height for Kentucky Bluegrass, which is a cool-season grass. However, our team often plays on Bermuda Grass in Florida and California, which is a warm-season grass typically cut to around 1/2 an inch (13 mm). We’re always striving to match the speed of Bermuda Grass on our Kentucky Bluegrass.”

Grow lights in summer

Maintaining the field in perfect condition for a fast-paced game is no small task, especially with the packed schedule of events at Citi Field. To aid recovery between events, Bill and his team rely on three LED120 grow lighting units. “We typically use the grow lights when the team is away,” Bill explains. “There’s no time to set them up during a home-game period. As soon as the baseball team leaves, we bring the LED units onto the field and rotate them across different areas. We have specific configurations to target the areas that see the most wear, the infield grass for example. That area gets the least sunlight but is used the most. We usually leave the units out for three or four days, as that’s when we see the best results.”

The decision to use LED grow lights was influenced by the high number of summer events at Citi Field. “The baseball season runs through the summer, and most concerts happen during that time too, due to school holidays. Summer is also when Kentucky Bluegrass struggles because of the heat, so the field takes a lot of stress,” Bill explains. “The great thing about LED grow lighting technology is that we can control the heat separately from the light. In the middle of summer, when it’s really hot, we can still use the lights for recovery at night by keeping the heat from the infrared turned off.”

Transforming to football

The grow lights are often needed for the goalmouths after a New York City FC football match at Citi Field. It’s quite a unique sight to see a rectangular pitch within a triangular stadium. Bill explains how the conversion from a baseball field to a football pitch works: “We need a minimum of two days, but we prefer three or four days. That’s tough, though, because it usually happens in the middle of the season.”

“We remove the edges of the grass and take out six feet (180 cm) of infield dirt, replacing it with thick-cut sod about 1 3/8 inches (3.5 cm) thick. Essentially, we remove the dirt that’s played on and fill those areas with sod. The pitcher’s mound doesn’t need to come down, but we do remove a section of the outfield wall and sod over parts of the warning track. The field meets the smallest size allowed by MLS rules because we simply can’t fit anything larger.” Bill explains of the unusual situation. These changes will only be necessary until the 2027 season, when NYCFC’s new Etihad stadium is completed.