Turfgrass, gardens, and grow lights at AAMI Park

We sat down with Troy Jordan, Head of Horticulture & Sports Grounds at Melbourne & Olympic Parks. From Australian football and rugby to tennis, cricket, monster trucks, and concerts, it all happens at the 40-hectare precinct Troy and his team maintain. We discussed his varied work, an extremely busy event schedule, and how he utilizes LED grow lighting technology at AAMI Park.

Melbourne & Olympic Parks

A year-round schedule

Managing 40 hectares of land, including six venues, four training grounds, and gardens that see more than 1.1 million visitors, requires exceptional time management in Troy’s role. “Now, 16 months into the job, I’m finally beginning to master it. With different sports played across overlapping seasons, we move straight from rugby season into football, leaving hardly a moment for the venues, or for us, to rest. There’s little time for significant pitch maintenance because of these back-to-back seasons.”

Troy shares insights into the busiest period of the year: “From March to June, we may host three games in just three days—Rugby League on Friday night, Rugby Union on Saturday night, and football on Sunday. For us, this means 72 hours of switching out lines, logos, and goals, and this cycle continues three months in a row.”

Each sport has specific pitch requirements and priorities. “We’re unlucky that football follows rugby since ball roll is less critical in rugby. Ideally, football would come first each weekend. Grass length also poses a challenge because it needs to be different for each sport. Rugby grass length is usually between 28 and 30 mm, while football requires 20 to 24 mm. During the seasonal overlap, we keep it at 24 mm as a middle ground, then lower it as soon as rugby finishes.”

And if that wasn’t enough, AAMI Park is also set to host other major events. “We have a monster truck show, and multiple concerts lined up for November and December. Last year, we hosted Robbie Williams and the Foo Fighters; events like these draw huge crowds and are very important to us,” Troy explains. “However, they do impact the pitch since we often need to replace a significant amount of turf. After last year’s concerts, we replaced just over 2,000 m². Because of our tight sports schedule, all this needs to be done quickly, requiring a lot of strategic planning.”

Less returfing

Troy explains that turf replacements at AAMI Park are already kept to a minimum. “You have to replace turf far more often without grow lights. Turf replacement is also a larger burden on finances and the environment, so it’s much more efficient to use grow lighting technology, especially when you consider the lifespan of LED units. The savings from reduced turf replacement by using LED grow lighting technology far outweigh any other argument.”

Troy and his team have four LED440 grow lighting units at their disposal, which are a tremendous help. “We use our LED grow lighting units from March to October, as often as possible, and achieve incredible results. LED gives us the same results in half the time, meaning we can move the units around more quickly, cover more of the pitch, and get faster results overall. The ability to switch infrared on or off based on the temperature is also a practical advantage, as it means we don’t have to drive the units off the pitch. More importantly, it allows us to reduce our energy consumption as we’re only using the technology the plant requires, either LED light or heat.”

“The energy savings are another big benefit. As a precinct, we have an obligation to reduce our environmental impact. The use of LED grow lights allows us to achieve better outputs while reducing our energy costs. That’s a compelling story for me to tell.  We just get better bang for our buck.”