"We're going to have a lot of less rainouts and more happy faces." Fince Espinoza, Southlake's deputy director of community services, said that to the City Council in November 2024, as Community Impact reported, when new synthetic turf was finishing at Bicentennial Park and Bob Jones Park.
Two years later, the city's field status page shows what that looks like in practice. On the update for October 12, 2026, every converted turf field was listed open, and every field the page labels as grass at Bob Jones Park was listed closed. The page doesn't say why each field closed. The split by surface is plain to see, though, and the North Park project that started on September 21 is the last piece of it.
What the October 12 Status Page Showed
The Southlake Athletics field status page lists every field by complex. Here is the October 12 update, matched to the fields the city converted in its earlier turf project.
| Complex | Fields converted to turf | Status of those fields, Oct. 12 | Other fields, Oct. 12 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bicentennial Park, baseball and Miracle League | 3, 5, 6, 7 | All open | 1, 2, 4, 8, 10 closed; 9 and 11 open |
| Bob Jones Park, soccer and cricket | Multipurpose 4 through 6 | 4A, 4B, 5B, 6A, 6B, 6C open | Grass fields 3A through 3E and the cricket pitch closed |
| Bob Jones Park, softball | 3 through 6 | All open | 1 and 2 open |
| North Park, lacrosse and flag football | Under construction | All closed | All closed |
| Southlake Sports Complex | Not part of the conversion | n/a | Fields 1 through 3 open |
There are limits to what one day's listing can tell you. The page gives no reasons for closures. City policy closes heavy-use football, lacrosse and soccer fields for two weeks in September or October so the grass can be overseeded with rye, and that could explain some of the grass closures as easily as wet ground. It also doesn't say what surface Bicentennial fields 9 and 11 have.
Even so, every field the city converted was listed open that day, and every grass rectangle at Bob Jones was listed closed.
How Most of the Map Went Green
The split traces back to a Southlake City Council meeting on October 17, 2023. The council approved an $11.6 million agreement with GeoSurfaces, Inc. for synthetic turf, ballfield fencing and related amenities at Bicentennial and Bob Jones. Mayor Shawn McCaskill noted that the project was paid for in cash.
That project covered fields 3 and 5 through 7 at Bicentennial, softball fields 3 through 6 at Bob Jones, and multipurpose fields 4 through 6 at Bob Jones. It also added new fencing, dugouts and backstop work. Espinoza described it as a joint effort among the city, the Southlake Girls Softball Association, the Dragon Youth Baseball Association, the Grapevine-Southlake Soccer Association and Miracle League. SGSA used its new Bob Jones field for its All-Star Tournament on November 2 and 3, 2024.
The city gave several reasons for the switch. Turf drains quickly enough to allow play year-round, costs less to maintain than grass, and doesn't need mowing, watering or irrigation.
The change goes beyond drainage. David Miller, Southlake's director of community services, told Community Impact this month that "all fields with artificial turf are now designated as multi-use, which has significantly increased the amount of practice and game space available to teams." Before the conversion, a baseball field was only a baseball field. Now a turf field can host a practice for a sport it wasn't built for, and that makes it easier to move teams around on a wet week.
North Park, the Final Stage
North Park is the last set of fields in the program. Construction on its $6.4 million renovation began September 21, and the city calls it the final stage of the field turf conversion. The work includes:
- Three turf fields with an improved drainage system and a shock pad for impact absorption. City documents say the new fields will be softer and absorb impact better than the NFL standard for turf.
- New chain-link fencing around the fields, with safety netting extending above the north and south ends.
- A new parking lot with 152 additional spaces, bringing North Park to 286 total.
- Upgrades to the existing lots, including better drainage, more lighting, landscaping and improved accessibility.
Miller expects the project to be complete early in 2027. Once it's done, all seven of the city's partner athletic associations will have access to turf fields.
Where the North Park Leagues Are This Fall
On the status page, North Park holds lacrosse fields 1 through 3 and nine flag football fields, 1A through 3C. All of them were listed closed on October 12. Miller said fall use of those fields is usually low, and the city has moved the affected programs:
- Lady Dragon Lacrosse is playing some fall games and practices at the Southlake Sports Complex.
- City Flag Football is running at Bob Jones Park for the duration.
- Spring programs will get updates from the city on any possible impacts, along with alternatives where needed.
The park itself stays open during construction. Only certain areas and parts of the sidewalk loop are closed, so a walk around North Park this fall may involve a detour.
The Closure Clock Still Runs
Turf drains faster, but it doesn't take fields off the closure list for good. Southlake's Policy for the Provision of Athletic Facilities lets the city close a field if it is raining at game or practice time, if fields are too wet, or to protect participant safety or the playing surface. Nothing in that text exempts synthetic fields. Miller's own description was careful: turf lets teams play "within close proximity of high-impact rain events," which is not the same as playing through them. The city hasn't published a count of how many rainouts the conversion has prevented. "Fewer rainouts" is still what officials expect, not a measured result.
The policy sets out the daily routine:
- Weekdays: staff inspect fields by 3 p.m. and post closings to the City Field Closure Line, (817) 748-8028, by 4 p.m.
- Weekends: staff inspect by 7 a.m. Saturday and Sunday and update the Closure Line by 8 a.m. With this many fields, inspections sometimes take longer.
- Afternoon and evening weekend games: the Parks Manager or a designee may recheck at 11 a.m. and decide before noon.
- Final say: that decision is final. If weather turns once games have started, association officials follow the same guidelines.
The policy says the website is updated only Monday through Friday. The live TeamSideline page, however, was showing a current update for Monday, October 12, and has since added schedule notes of its own, so the policy's timing details may be out of date. Here are the current notes on that page:
- Bob Jones softball fields 1 and 2 are updated Tuesday and Thursday mornings for Senior Softball.
- Every field at every complex is re-updated by 4 p.m. for evening games or practices.
- City Flag Football is updated at 2 p.m. on posted game days when field conditions are questionable.
The page also links to TeamSideline apps for iPhone and Android.
What Spring 2027 Looks Like
When North Park opens early next year, its lacrosse and flag football fields will move to the turf column, with nearly twice the parking they had before. Bob Jones grass fields 3A through 3E are not part of any announced conversion. The same goes for the Bicentennial diamonds left out of the 2023 contract, though the status page doesn't say what surface those have. On a wet morning, check your child's assigned field number against the table above before you head out.
Holly and Amy follow what's happening around the parks and neighborhoods their clients live near, from field projects to new parking lots. If you'd like to talk about Southlake, or how it fits with a Dallas home or a weekend place at Cedar Creek Lake, Holly Davis & Amy Farris would be glad to hear from you. Contact Us.
