The Best Seats
In The House

 Throughout history, facilities, sports leagues, and special events have traditionally used stationary seating systems to accommodate spectators. Bleacher seating was ordered specifically to fit a specified space – typically along the sidelines of a sports field - and was never to move again.

In an ever-changing industry such as athletics, the needs and wants of facilities have changed and the bleacher market has adapted accordingly. In addition to improved accessibility seating options, reduced bleacher sizes and all-steel frame construction, there has also been a dramatic rise in the use of portable bleachers.

These seating structures can come in a couple of different configurations. The first being a bleacher that was designed and manufactured to be portable or transportable from the beginning. The second is the availability of tow kits that can easily be installed on existing bleachers, making them instantly mobile.

So aside from the obvious, what is it that keeps facility managers and operators ordering these versatile bleachers?  Let’s dig into it…

When it comes to planned expenditures, our friends over at Recreation Management Magazine conduct annual research that is helpful in more ways than one. Their annual report takes a deep dive into annual trends for spending with regards to colleges and universities across the United States.

While the 2019 edition of their annual survey indicated little to no changes with regards to planned features and upgrades, there was certainly some movement up the ranks for certain products such as bleachers and seating.

While planning for the development of synthetic turf sports fields remains at the top of the list for the second consecutive year, bleachers and seating took honours in the third spot for the most planned additions to colleges and universities. Jumping up from sixth position in late 2018, it is no secret that the building boon for planned seating will continue through 2020.

Working again with our partners at Tadeos Engineering LLC, we recently joined forces on a unique project. Operating as a structural and civil engineering firm founded in Miami in 2015, Tadeos Engineering offers a range of Structural Engineering Services for new construction, additions to current buildings, remodeling, legalization and more. The opportunity to remove old, outdated wooden telescopic bleachers and replace them with new, state-of-the-art telescopic bleachers was presented to our team by Tadeos and we were quick to reply. Organized by the City of South Miami, the project was scheduled to take place at the Gibson-Bethel Community Center. Opened in 2003, the center serves people of all ages in the community of South Miami, offering a fitness center, basketball and volleyball courts, arts and crafts rooms and much more.

As a company with a global footprint, we’ve been closely monitoring the developments surrounding COVID-19. As such, we felt compelled to inform you of what we are doing as a company to safely navigate through these complex times.

We would like to begin by extending our sincere regards to all those who have been directly affected by COVID-19. We are keeping those affected in our thoughts and are wishing them all a very safe and expedited recovery.

With less than a month until the official beginning of the spring season here in the Northern Hemisphere, municipal planning for parks & recreation and outdoor athletics is well underway.

Operators, managers, and maintenance crews are planning, inspecting and making checklists, verifying and highlighting where the necessary improvements or upgrades are required.

Beyond the obvious sports equipment requirements, amenities are also a very important part of the planning process, ensuring visitors have everything they need while enjoying their outdoor recreation this summer.

With Major League Spring Training already underway, it won’t be long before the boys and girls of summer are back on diamonds across North America. With the anticipation of warmer weather and the impending spring and summer seasons, facility operators, league managers and volunteers are looking forward to the 2020 season.

As such, depending on your geographical location, field conditions are being assessed and as we approach another season, any needs that weren’t taken care of last year are likely at the top of the list (or will be quite soon!).

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is the largest school board in Eastern Ontario and the seventh largest by school population in the Province of Ontario. With a heavy presence in the Ottawa region and close to our corporate HQ, we naturally are fortunate to do a great deal of business with this particular board.

Spanning 143 schools, it is no surprise that we have long-established relationships with key stakeholders not only from the board but also from many of the individual schools as well.

In addition to a number of upgrades performed in the latter portion of 2019, we were asked to visit three schools here in the Greater Ottawa Area that were in need of folding partition replacement. Given the often unsafe nature of outdated gymnasium dividers, it is often the mandate of schools and school boards to have these systems replaced well ahead of any problems that might surface over time with repeated use.

Blending recreational activities with downtown living in a city as large as Toronto is no easy feat. As Canada’s largest city and North America’s fourth largest in terms of population, a great deal of planning was required in the execution of a project in such a large urban centre.

This was quite apparent with one of our recent projects that kicked off in 2019 and which was completed earlier this year. During the summer of 2019, we were contacted by Victor Ford and Associates, an award-winning landscape architect firm with roots in western Canada now located in Toronto. Providing sustainable and creative designs that are functional, aesthetically pleasing, durable and practical is what VFA specializes in and we had the opportunity to learn that first hand.

Nestled high in the great Canadian North, the Northwest Territories is an expansive swath of land covering nearly 1.1 million km².The remote landscape is made up of forest, mountains, tundra and a number of islands dotting Canada’s Arctic archipelago.

In the central region of this vast Canadian Territory lies the city of Yellowknife. As the only city in the territory, the province’s capital resides along the northern shores of Great Slave Lake.

It was here where we were invited to participate in one of our most recent projects. As part of the Yellowknife Education District No. 1, we were invited to Sir John Franklin High School located in the eastern portion of the city. In search of a replacement solution for an outdated partition, our team was brought in to assess its current condition and provide a long-term solution to the gymnasium’s separation needs.