4 Reasons Why You Need a Steel Practice Facility

If you walk into my office, it’s impossible not to notice all of my sports memorabilia. Flags, team calendars, autographed baseballs and even rare ‘Wheaties’ boxes adorn my desk and occupy my personal space. Honestly, I’ll surround myself with anything Minnesota sports related – banners, jerseys and photos. I’m sure a lot of you are the same way with whatever team you choose to root for.

Sports is a big part of many people’s lives. Whether it’s on the peewee, high school or professional level, one of the biggest keys to victory in sports is practice. Allen Iverson wasn’t a huge fan of practice, but I am. As a native Minnesotan, sometimes it was tough to play some of those outdoor sports when it was -10 degrees outside! We depended on some pretty durable practice facilities, and that still remains true for many athletes today.

When you can play outside, I’m all for it. Football players are meant to play under the lights, and baseball stars belong in the diamond, but every sport and athlete can benefit from an indoor steel practice facility. Are you starting a small business, batting cage facility, or are you looking for a space for athletes of all ages to have a place to train? A steel practice facility is the perfect solution.

No interior interruptions

These days, a clear span steel practice facility with 100% useable interior space isn’t just a nice feature; it’s a necessity. One of the biggest advantages of steel indoor sports buildings is a column-free space without obstacles. Football players want wide open areas to throw the ball, run routes and carry out drills. You think they want to be running into interior columns that support the roof? That’s the beauty of clear span framing. The rigid frames transfer the weight of the building to the foundation, and the entire interior space is usable. Want to fit a 100-yard field into your steel practice facility? Clear span, tapered column steel building frames support building widths of 30 feet to 300 feet and over. That’s more than enough space to fit whole teams into the complex, and allow them to practice soccer, tennis, gymnastics and every sport in between. Use all of the space how you see fit!

Cost effective

A steel practice facility offers a cost effective structure that can be designed to fit any sport, team or business. Are you looking for a structure for your community that can be built quickly in time for the off-season or post-season? Steel buildings can be erected in days or weeks, not months, resulting in a reduction of overall construction costs. When it comes to bigger buildings to accommodate hockey rinks or horse arenas, buildings of all types have the potential to get extremely pricey, no matter the construction material. As soon as you go make designs over 40 feet (and you will with a steel practice facility), your costs have the potential to skyrocket. However, when the spans of your building exceed 40 feet, steel buildings are extremely more cost efficient in comparison to other methods of construction. Steel buildings with larger spans are almost always less expensive than any other clear span construction method based on price per square foot. Think about it – if you build with wood, and design a frame larger than 40 feet, the building would require more wood for the truss roof and walls to stand. Now you’re spending much more in lumber when you could have designed with steel for generally half the cost. Wood just can’t support its weight the way steel can in a larger span engineered building.

Low Maintenance

The focus needs to be on the athletes and their training, not on building upkeep. If this is your business, you won’t have to constantly replace parts of the building due to rot, termites, warping or cracking. A properly engineered steel building is strong enough to withstand the forces of nature, as well as tennis balls, baseballs, and hockey pucks banging off the walls and ceiling. Combine those attributes with a 50-year structural warranty and steel building coatings, steel buildings are extremely low maintenance and will save your business or your publicly-funded project lots of time and money.

Energy efficient

A steel practice facility is easy to insulate, saving you loads in heating and cooling costs over the building’s life. Want to keep those power bills low? Install ductwork or lighting. Be sure to mention any type of interior accessories – live loads and dead loads should be accounted for in the engineering process.

Practice makes progress. Make that progress in a steel practice facility today, and prove it out on the field.

Photo courtesy: James DiBianco, Susan Lloyd

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