Baseline Maintenance

A category of turf maintenance which categorises variables in a way that captures the general outcomes and returns from inputs to a sports turf surface. This category is what is needed to maintain a playing surface that is no longer in use, but which is likely to come back into play some time in the foreseeable future. Normally a surface has been taken out of use due to political, social or economic reasons, with an example from 2020 being the coronavirus COVID-19, which significantly affected all sports matches and surfaces. In essence it is being temporarily mothballed.

This situation could readily arise in many local authority situations, although typically, in practice, maintenance would drop below the baseline maintenance level: The opportunity is certainly available for many local authorities to keep mothballed sports surfaces in a suitable condition ready for when conditions, especially economic ones, improve.