Calgary soccer centre tries to keep turf dry after dome collapse

There’s at least one person in Calgary who doesn’t mind the city’s frigid weather.

The general manager of the Subway Soccer Centre said the dry conditions that accompany the deep-freeze may help minimize the damage to five artificial turf fields left exposed to the elements after the facility’s inflatable dome collapsed Monday.

When an earlier version of the fabric bubble deflated in 2008, replacing turf that got wet and mouldy was a bigger problem than reinstalling a new dome, said Perry Logan.

"There won’t be a problem getting the bubble back up," he added.

Logan said Tuesday he was hopeful insurance adjusters would allow him to place tarps over the exposed fields before the freezing weather relents, expected later this week. "If the turf’s not an issue, we could be up and running in four weeks," he said.

No one was hurt when the 75,000 square foot bubble collapsed, and there was no damage to the soccer centre’s main building at 7000 48th St. S.E.

Logan said inspectors have determined that a snapped metal support cable played a role in the bubble deflating. On its own, losing one of the 35 cables holding the dome in place wouldn’t cause it to collapse — but when it snapped, it took a heavy metal anchor with it, he said.

"It tore the bubble as it came up," Logan said.

Officials are still awaiting an engineer’s report to determine why the cable failed. The maintenance crew and reconstruction crew will be onsite this afternoon. Once given the ok, they will start to rebuild.

In 2008, a buildup of snow and ice caused the bubble to cave in, which wasn’t the case this time. For that incident, it took six weeks to replace the dome and fix water-damaged turf at a cost of nearly $1 million.

To deal with the latest collapse, the soccer centre will shift events originally scheduled in the bubble to the four fields in the main building and to other facilities, such as the Calgary West Soccer Centre.

The Calgary United Soccer Association has had to redraw schedules for 197 men’s teams and 100 coed teams playing indoor soccer.

Perry Logan says they’re goal is to have all fields operation again by January 1st.