Is it possible to get grass at the Rogers Centre?

There are solutions (I’ve copied an interesting application below by a Billy Ray Valentine) but this seems like a case of mgmt simply not caring because it would be complicated. Mgmt has taken a stance that it is “prohibitively expensive” to maintain grass under dome but numbers say otherwise:
Rogers Centre is 143,000 square feet and the materials cost anywhere from $1 to $10 per sq ft, depending mostly on what soil, fill and drainage method you install below the grass, so the one to two million dollar estimate still sounds right.
From the Rogers Centre own faq, “To maintain the ability to transform quickly and efficiently to accommodate a number of events, Rogers Centre makes use of a synthetic playing surface….Typically, it takes up to 30 hours to convert the stadium from a baseball diamond into a football field. It takes 20 hours to remove the diamond to go to the concrete floor. It takes 16 hours to remove the football field to go to concrete.”
As you will see below, it takes 45 minutes to implement the real grass solution they used in Arizona.

Long answer but you have to think the pencil pushers are winning on this one, maybe even out of spite for those athletes who make so much so they should just suck it up because at least Rogers turf is better than in the old days.

Most of the domed sports stadiums of today that grow real turf, have a retractable roof that when opened, allows sunlight to fiter in. However, the amount of sunlight is only about half of what is needed to keep a healthy turf that can withstand the rigors of cleated shoes and the constant tromping by athletes. To supplement this inadequate level of sunlight, groundskeeping supervisors utilize the use of electric grow lamps to maintain the right amount of light needed, along with a combination of good turf genetics and the right type of turf, they are able to maintain a thick, healthy, crowd appreciative field. The negative here is that this type of supplemental maintenance only last for so long, and alot of times the turf must be completely replaced, sometimes on a regular basis.

One further advancement on growing turf “inside” of a domed stadium (well, kind of) took a giant leap with the Arizona Cardinals stadium. They have the only “retractable” floor in use in North America. With this method, the grass for the stadium is grown in a large tray, which is slid “outside” when games are not being played (takes 45 min. to mechanically move one way). There, it absorbs all of the nice bright Arizona sun and grows very well. When its time for the game or any sporting event, it is slid back into place at the stadium floor. Very unique indeed! And one of a kind!

Thanks for posting this ILLawrie, maybe if enough people get involved Jays will consider the change…..it could only help in terms of how any free agent would view coming to the Jays!