FieldTurf Financial Helps Make Field a Reality for Riviera Schools

In the middle of determining how they would pay for the installation of a FieldTurf surface at Riviera Schools, a private institution with two facilities in South Florida, administration officials learned about FieldTurf Financial — and their decision became a whole lot easier.

“FieldTurf Financial was a crucial component that gave us the ability to undertake this project,” says Peter Cohen, associate director of Riviera Schools — a fully accredited, non-sectarian independent organization with day and preparatory schools for students in preschool through 12th grade. “Otherwise, it would have been much more complex to arrange for funding.”

FieldTurf, in partnership with PNC Sports & Entertainment Finance Group (part of Cincinnati-based PNC Equipment Finance), helps organizations like Riviera Schools build the field of their dreams with nothing more than a small down payment. The balance of the project’s cost can be paid off over the next several years at highly competitive interest rates.

This option allows facility owners to retain their cash and use their FieldTurf field to generate revenue that will help cover regular payments. It also helps hedge inflation by budgeting today’s costs to today’s revenues and tomorrow’s costs to future revenues.

“Not all customers in the marketplace are flush with cash,” explains Russ Munson, vice president of PNC’s Sports & Entertainment Finance Group. “In the past, they were pretty much left to come up with their own financing options. And in some cases, local banks don’t necessarily understand the magnitude of a FieldTurf project and won’t provide for design costs, site surveys and other fees. Plus, organizations can’t go to their local bank to get financing at the rates we offer for FieldTurf.”

The total bill for Riviera’s multipurpose FieldTurf field at its prep school came to more than $930,000, according to Munson, payable in 84 monthly installments for seven years.

For Riviera officials, the decision came down to weighing the cost of a new FieldTurf field against the ongoing and often high maintenance costs associated with natural grass. “We did our analysis for the long term,” Cohen says, adding that when it comes time to replace Riviera’s FieldTurf surface a decade from now, the cost will be significantly less than the first field because the initial site work will not need to be redone. “FieldTurf Financial just became the right option.”

Officials at Riviera Schools plan to use its new field for high school and middle school sports, summer camps and physical education classes.

There are more FieldTurf Financial success stories, including ones at a community college in California, a city soccer field in Arizona and a NCAA Division I university in Louisiana. All told, Munson reports that eight FieldTurf Financial transactions occurred within nine months. “Most of those projects would not have come together had it not been for this type of financing,” he says. “This has the potential to change the funding dynamic of the industry.”

Typical financing terms with FieldTurf Financial are for between two and 10 years, in amounts from $100,000 to $25 million. Payments can be scheduled monthly, quarterly or annually to match the timing of fiscal budgets.

“We finance all aspects of a synthetic field or field and track project, including all preparatory and ancillary costs,” Munson says, adding that PNC also provides financing for scoreboards, lighting, audio systems, broadcast facilities, seating, concession, security systems, signage and other venue equipment.

FieldTurf’s goal in offering this unprecedented funding opportunity is to provide a total fiscal financing solution to customers, helping them achieve all budget objectives.

The FieldTurf Financial process is easy; ask your FieldTurf sales representative for more details about how you can begin building your own field of dreams today.