BrightView prepares for second Field of Dreams Game
BrightView, the official field consultant of Major League Baseball (MLB), is transforming an Iowa cornfield into a playable baseball field for the second Field of Dreams Game.
Since MLB announced the Field of Dreams Series in 2019, BrightView has worked with MLB to draw up plans and carve out and maintain an MLB-caliber ballfield in a cornfield adjacent to the Dyersville, Iowa, farm where the movie “Field of Dreams” was filmed and the original field still stands. The distance from the movie site’s home plate to the MLB field’s home plate is exactly 1,000 feet.
Photo: BrightView
Led by Murray Cook, president of BrightView’s sports turf division, BrightView performed all site work and constructed the ballfield, bullpens, fencing and foul poles, as well as overseeing the installation of the outfield wall, backstop net and various player-related areas. The team also managed the planting of the corn that is part of the iconic outfield background.
“This was an incredibly satisfying project,” Cook said. “Our goal was to build a field that not only replicates the “Field of Dreams” movie magic but makes it so players are literally stepping out of the cornfield onto a first-class major league field that has been transplanted in the middle of an Iowa farm. We built it, and they came.”
Come game time, BrightView’s 12-person grounds crew, which includes eight native Iowans, is responsible for mowing, painting and lining the field, as well as raking the base paths, grooming the infield and changing bases between innings.
According to BrightView, the company:
- Laid 100,000 square feet of sod
- Excavated 30,000 cubic yards of material
- Installed 4,000 tons of sand and 2,000 tons of pea gravel under the new grass
- Used 300 pounds of grass seed
- Planted 159 acres of corn that surround the field
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