INSIGHT
Nordic

Sports Field Maintenance:

Top 10 Most Time-Consuming Tasks
There are only so many hours in a day. You have a schedule to keep, and if you have natural-grass fields, the workload is endless. We’ve ranked the 10 most time-consuming tasks.

For this ranking, we drew on estimates from experts at the Sports Field Management Association (SFMA) and The Football Association (FA) on how much time each task takes.

The 10 Biggest Time Consumers

10. Goals, nets, flags, inspections, and match setup
8–20 HOURS
Your field isn’t ready until the equipment is in place and safety checks are done.

 

9. Edging and trimming
8–20 HOURS
Mowing has its limits, so your team has to clean up the areas the mower can’t reach. Edging and trimming eat up hours of time each week.

 

8. Watering and irrigation maintenance
6–20 HOURS
Automatic irrigation is great, but only if the system works. Someone has to do regular maintenance to ensure that it does.

 

7. Aeration and decompaction
8–20 HOURS
Fields with heavy use, like those at schools, need more frequent aeration to keep the soil from becoming too compacted.

 

6. Debris removal and surface grooming
10–25 HOURS
The team must keep the field clear. These tasks alone can take several workdays each year.
Manual line marking a football or soccer field

Calculate Your Hours

How long does marking take you? Count the whole trip — mixing paint, driving between grounds, washing down afterwards.

One round takes First Re-mark
never weekly twice a week

0 hours a season, marking by hand

How we work this out

total hours =
(hours × people × full layouts)
+ (hours × people × re-marks)

Nothing else goes into it. We ask for your hours rather than pitch sizes or line metres, so there are no hidden assumptions in the number.

The same hours, put another way

  • Working weeks
  • Share of one full-time year

Where the starting numbers come from

The calculator opens on a ground with three 11-a-side pitches, using our own measured figures below. Re-marking lands near a sixth of the first marking across every sport we have measured, so changing the first figure moves the second with it until you set that one yourself.

Sport First marking Re-marking
Soccer 11v11 6 h 1 h
HS football (no numbers) 30 h 3 h
Baseball 2.5 h 0.3 h
Men's lacrosse 4 h 1 h
Women's lacrosse 4 h 1.1 h
Athletics, 400 m track 30 h 5 h
Rugby 6 h 1.5 h

First marking assumes a crew of two laying out the pitch.

What usually gets left out

  • Mixing the paint and filling the machine
  • Washing the machine and the nozzles afterwards
  • Driving between grounds
  • Measuring, strings and pegs on the first round
  • Rounds you do again after rain or a crooked line
  • Waiting for the pitch to dry enough to paint

Did you know?

Maybe we could put a fun fact here? Or a CTA? Or a customer story?
CLICK HERE
5. Fertilizing and weed, disease, and pest control
10–30 HOURS
Fertilizer, fungicide, herbicide, and other treatments all take time. These tasks vary by the field and microclimate, but the average is about 26 hours.

 

4. Divots, goalmouths, and worn areas
20–40 HOURS
It’s recommended to spend at least 15 minutes after each game on divots and worn areas. That’s 30 minutes right there. Over the course of the season, that adds up to about 20-25 hours.

 

3. End-of-season renovations
25–40 HOURS
Topdressing, scarifying, and overseeding don’t happen often. But they’re time-consuming. The SFMA estimates that topdressing and overseeding an average soccer field takes about a week’s work, roughly 36 hours.

 

2. Line marking, measuring, and remarking
30–65 HOURS
Painting a sports field is incredibly time-consuming. For the initial marking, it takes many hours to measure out the field with a measuring tape and string. And the field has to be remarked throughout the season due to weather and normal wear and tear. Some crews also remark the lines simply to avoid having to measure the field again.

 

1. Mowing
50–120 HOURS PER YEAR
Mowing takes up more time than any other task. The SFMA estimates close to 113 hours per year, assuming your crew mows about 50 times per season.
man mowing grass on sports field

Which hours can you get back?

We did the hard work for you. Now that you know how much time your crew spends on maintenance, you can figure out how to make it easier. Ask one simple question. What jobs will get us the most bang for the buck?
These jobs aren't optional, and deferred maintenance isn’t the answer. Instead, improve the process. Automated line marking takes one of the most time-consuming tasks off the list.
GPS-guided robotic line markers store field layouts and reproduce them with the touch of a button. No more tape and strings. No need to recreate the field layout every time. While the robot paints, staff can handle other maintenance work. The workload will be the same. The difference is that automating some tasks gives your crew more time to get it all done.

DISCOVERY CALL
Spring

In doubt about your needs?

Book a Discovery Call and talk with one our line marking experts about how to optimize your field maintenance.
book now