Keyworth Stadium gets new artificial turf for DCFC's next season

While many would prefer the ‘red carpet’ treatment, the Detroit City Football Club (DCFC) is perfectly fine with a carpet of green.

Work continued Thursday on the new artificial turf soccer field at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck, home of DCFC and its rambunctious fans.

 The new field came about as part of a $800,000 grant from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation to create a master plan and community engagement process for Hamtramck’s 26-acre Veterans Memorial Park. Besides home field for DCFC, the new field will be utilized by the community’s high school and middle school teams.  

Large panels of turf were rolled out onto the prepared base and stitched together to create a seamless playing field, with boundary lines and goal boxes cut into the turf and glued afterwards. 

After the panels were laid out and the soccer field lines cut and glued in, 37 bags of sand, each weighing 3,000 pounds and 94 bags of rubber, each weighing 2,200 pounds, were spread across the field.  

"You don't have to worry about it going anywhere," joked Benjie Durham of Shaw Sports Turf of Georgia, charged with replacing the field.  "We've done everything -- baseball, soccer, field hockey, rugby. It's basically all put in the same, from here to Cuba."

DCFC will try out the new field May 19 against Kalamazoo FC.  On Aug. 17, they will play their first home game in the National Premier Soccer League’s inaugural Founders Cup competition, against the Chattanooga FC, with games continuing through October. 

For more information on the Detroit City Football Club go to https://www.detcityfc.com/.