TYRONE, Pa. (WTAJ) — Major renovations are underway at Tyrone’s soccer field. The grass has been removed and has been replaced with a multi-sport synthetic surface so it can be used year-round.

Increased numbers in their soccer programs escalated the need to renovate the field. The school is spending $1,500,000 to replace the grass field.

“With natural turf, you get your ability to play so many hours a year kind of takes its toll when you have three boys soccer teams and three girls soccer teams,” Jordan Good, the buildings and grounds administrator at Tyrone said. “So now with synthetic, we can we can hold all of our games there. And with the lights last year, we were calling some games got too late in the evening so we actually call it due to safety because you couldn’t really see that well.”

With the added lights, varsity games are expected to start at 6 pm which will allow parents more time to get to the games. Another added benefit of the turf field will be being able to manage the wear and tear after each game.

“It’s very difficult because you if you get a day that you know that you play the game and you get some weather during the game, but you continue to play the game and the field can really take a beating,” Luke Rhoades, the athletic director at Tyrone said. “And if that happens early in the year, it’s really tough to get it back to where it needs to be. I mean, our grounds crew does an excellent job. The big problem is, you know, you just can’t you can’t fight Mother Nature.”

The soccer teams won’t be the only ones that benefit from the new field.

“Either other sports teams will bring a practice on it. The baseball, the softball teams will be able to get on it early in the spring when they’re not able to get on their field,” Rhoades said. “Late in the season the varsity football team as they make their playoff runs, if they need to get on it, they’ll be able to use it as well. And really, the big thing, too, is I mean, it’ll also benefit some of our younger programs. Some younger soccer teams are going to be able to use it. And our youth football hopefully will better use it as well.”

The project is expected to be completed sometime in May.