Case Study: Yard Ramp Helps Move 2,200lb Rolls of Turf, Restores Wrigley Field Quickly

Handi-Ramp Delivers Yard Ramps to Save Major League Baseball Stadium’s Charred Outfield

Summary

About the Client:

• Major League Baseball stadium in Chicago, IL
• Home stadium of the Chicago Cubs
• Hosts other sporting events and concerts

The Challenge:

• Back-to-back concerts left the outfield destroyed
• No loading docks nearby to unload massive rolls of new sod
• Required a temporary solution that could be delivered and removed when the job was finished
• Only two days to get the field back in shape

Solution:

• Deliver a 36-foot-long, portable yard ramp with significant weight capacity
• Set up and move the ramp as needed
• Coordinate with sod provider

Results:

• Ramp was delivered and retrieved on schedule
• Outfield was restored in time for home team’s return
• Wrigley Field purchased a yard ramp of their own 1 month later for soccer match

The Full Story

Introduction

Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, encountered a serious turf issue during the 2012 season. While the Cubs’ schedule took them out of town for a few days, the stadium played host to two sold out back-to-back concerts that ravaged the outfield, leaving patches of grass burnt by electronics and others ripped apart by the crowds.

Management had only two days to replace the outfield turf and bring Wrigley Field back to a playable condition. Handi-Ramp was called in to provide portable yard ramps and help unload the new sod as quickly as possible, ensuring that the field would be ready for the home team’s return.

The Challenge

Fortunately, the staff at Wrigley Field was able to coordinate with a nearby turf company to procure enough sod to build an entirely new outfield. Since time was of the essence, all of the assets required to unload and place the new sod had to be coordinated exactly. The sod was scheduled to arrive immediately, and losing even an hour of time that could be spent unloading could mean the difference between “Play Ball” and a cancelled game.

With no loading docks anywhere near Wrigley Field, the unloading teams needed some sort of staging area to quickly offload the rolls of new sod as soon as they arrived. With each roll of turf weighing approximately 2,200 lbs., unloading without a forklift would be impossible. That meant that, whatever apparatus they used to unload, it had to be something that could support a great deal of weight.

The mechanism would have to be portable, too, to meet the shipments wherever they were delivered and streamline the unloading process. Additionally, to avoid taking up too much space in the nearby parking lots, the ramp had to be delivered and picked up on a tight, pre-determined schedule.

Our Solution

Handi-Ramp coordinated with Wrigley Field and the turf company to develop a delivery schedule that meant the ramp, the new sod, and the Wrigley staff would all be in the right place in the right time. A 36′ ramp with a flattened portion at the top for forklifts and a weight capacity of more than 6,000 lbs. would be delivered to the unloading areas at a precise time, ready and waiting to be used when the sod arrived.

In an effort to keep offloading times to a minimum, Handi-Ramp and Wrigley Field worked together to plot out the layout of the staging area. The goal was to position the ramp so that it would be easily accessible to both the trucks carrying the sod and the forklifts doing the unloading.

The Results

The home team returned to find their field in perfect condition. The yard ramp was successfully delivered on time, as was the sod, and unloading proceeded as planned. Rolls of sod were unloaded one by one over the two day period, and the field was successfully re-sown. Handi-Ramp then removed the portable ramp from the premises immediately after the job was finished.

1 month later, Wrigley Field was scheduled to host a soccer match, but the outfield wasn’t large enough for a full-size, professional soccer pitch. That meant more sod to cover the infield, and another speedy unloading project.

The management at Wrigley Field returned to Handi-Ramp, but this time to buy a yard ramp of their own. Handi-Ramp was proud to sell them a similar ramp to the one used originally.