ACCESSING THE ARCHIVES
In this retrospective , we examine historic issues of SportsTurf magazine , predecessor to SportsField Management magazine . This month , we move into the ‘ 90s with a look at issues from 1990 .
The new decade introduced a major change for the magazine — one that would be controversial in the history of the publication . Beginning with the January 1990 issue , the magazine changed its name to Golf & Sports Turf . In the January issue , then-publisher Denne Goldstein wrote about how it was the perfect time to focus on golf , and how golf needed more editorial coverage . There is much more to his opinion piece that I won ’ t recap here , but is available in the digital archive . While one can assume the change was made to pursue potential revenue associated with prioritizing golf , the change would result in STMA pulling its endorsement of the magazine later that year .
It led to some heavily opinionated comments throughout the 1990 issues , and a very heavy editorial focus on golf course management . The relationship between the magazine and STMA would ultimately be restored in 1992 ; but , in the meantime , it resulted in some noticeable differences in the publication .
It also makes recapping the key sports field management stories of 1990 a little more challenging , because several issues were devoted almost entirely to golf course management .
The January 1990 issue did include a focus on Super Bowl XXIV in New Orleans and the NFL turf team of George and Chip Toma . Although the game was played on AstroTurf , the NFC and AFC champions practiced in the days leading up to the game on natural grass fields at Tulane University and the Saints Practice Facility . In addition to the practice fields , the article detailed the changeover and preparation of the game surface inside the New Orleans Superdome .
Several of the other issues early in 1990 provided recaps of the Field of the Year Award winners , and the April issue detailed the maintenance of baseball infields , but by mid-1990 — following a scathing opinion piece directed at association management — the impact of the split between publication and association was apparent in the lack of sports field management content .
The August 1990 issue does feature an article on how the practice of field painting had trickled down from the professional level to college and ultimately to the
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