By: Rick Doyle, Synthetic Turf Council
We have talked a lot about the growth of the synthetic turf industry in the United States and Canada. But the demand for resilient sports surfaces that can withstand strong usage is particularly strong in Europe.
The European Synthetic Turf Organization (ESTO) recently announced that its members, which represent 90% of the industry in Europe, had surpassed an annual installation rate of over 269 million square feet. There are now more than 15,000 synthetic turf football fields, over 1,000 hockey fields, 200 rugby fields and 5,000 tennis courts totalling over 3.2 billion sq. ft. of synthetic turf in Europe. From small and specialized beginnings in the 1970s, the European synthetic turf industry has grown into a business worth $1.5 billion annually and employing more than10,000 people.
As with our country, the need for high usage has helped create the demand, as has the necessity of conserving water. According to ESTO a synthetic turf sports field will give 1,500 hours of playing time annually, or five times as much as natural grass, while costing two or three times less to maintain.
“If natural grass could meet all the demands we make of it, we wouldn’t need synthetic turf. But we have worked hard over the years to produce the high performance surfaces our customers need, and these technical advances have resulted in ratification by bodies such as FIFA and UEFA,” said ESTO Secretary General Albert Prisse. “In the current economic climate the medium-term return on investment generated by synthetic turf is helping to drive the industry forward.”
Back in January, we announced that the U.S. market expanded by 20%. Later this year the Synthetic Turf Council will release a statement with the latest growth figures available. Please visit our website at www.syntheticturfcouncil.org to learn more.
