INDUSTRY DATA
What best describes your job title ?
34 % 17 % 16 % 12 % 8 % 6 % 4 % 3 %
Sports field manager
Parks superintendent
Director of fields and grounds
Director of facilities / operations
Assistant or crew
Coach
School , parks / rec administrator
Athletic director
As we have seen , sports field management industry professionals hold a variety of job titles . We probably could have added even more options to the survey , but the results paint a solid picture of our survey respondents . Predictably , the majority of respondents hold the title of sports field manager , parks superintendent , or as a director of their field / facility . The number of respondents identifying as parks superintendent is up slightly from 2020 ( from 13 % to 17 %), while the number indicating they are director of fields and grounds is down slightly ( 22 % to 16 %). Other categories saw minimal changes in overall percentage , and coaches , athletic directors and administrators in our audience continue to be well represented .
How many employees does your organization have ?
None ( it ’ s just me )
9 %
27 % 1-5
26 %
50 Plus
13 % 6-10
13 %
21-49
12 %
11-20
We did not ask this question three years ago , and found the results to this question interesting , as the bulk of respondents indicated between 1 and 5 employees in their organization and 50-plus ( with other options being fairly even ). This is most likely due to an interpretation of the question itself , as it is possible that those in the 50-plus category are counting their entire organization as a whole , while others might only be counting their crew or those handling field and facilities management . For example , those who work for a K-12 school or a college / university are obviously part of a much larger organization , but only a small portion of those have similar tasks . Future surveys will drill down into this topic further to provide better analysis of the number of personnel directly impacting each organization ’ s fields , facilities and grounds management .
What other areas are you responsible for besides athletic fields ? ( Select all that apply )
General landscape / grounds maintenance
Leaf removal
Tree care
Snow removal
Off-field facility / stadium maintenance
Garbage / recycling
Parks and related facilities
Off-field amenities ( e . g ., lighting , concessions )
Indoor sports facility maintenance
Other indoor facilities
Stadium personnel management ( officials , concessions , ticketing , etc .)
24 % 22 % 12 %
61 % 59 % 56 % 46 % 43 % 41 % 39 %
84 %
As with the range of job titles in this industry , this survey result also shows the wide range of hats worn by our respondents . The results also show that most respondents have duties that extend well beyond the athletic field / playing surface into grounds maintenance , leaf removal , snow removal , facility maintenance and even oversight of supporting stadium personnel . Interestingly enough , the same percentage of respondents in 2020 ( 84 %) indicated that they are responsible for landscape / grounds maintenance , and those responsible for leaf removal , snow removal , tree care and garbage / recycling are all within 3 % of the results for those categories from three years ago . However , we have seen increased numbers in those responsible for off-field stadium maintenance ( from 41 % to 46 %), off-field amenities ( 28 % to 39 %) and other indoor facilities ( 16 % to 22 %), which could indicate either a bigger seat at the table or , quite possibly , roles that have expanded out of necessity . sportsfieldmanagementonline . com May 2023 | SportsField Management
27