As anticipation builds for the encore to last year’s MLB at Field of Dreams game, BrightView (NYSE: BV), the Official Field Consultant of Major League Baseball (MLB), is deep in the thick of a Dyersville, Iowa, cornfield, fine tuning and carefully manicuring the major league field inspired by the beloved 1989 film.
With the second installment of the Field of Dreams classic scheduled for August 11, BrightView is again working with MLB to bring this vision to life and ensure the field conforms to major league playing standards. And the sequel, featuring the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs, promises to be just as epic.
Since MLB announced the Field of Dreams series in 2019, BrightView has worked with MLB to draw up plans and carve out and maintain an MLB-caliber ballfield in a cornfield adjacent to the Dyersville farm where the movie was filmed and the original field still stands. In fact, the distance from the movie site’s home plate to the MLB field’s home plate is exactly 1,000 feet.
Led by Murray Cook, president of BrightView’s Sports Turf division, BrightView performed all site work and constructed the ballfield, bullpens, fencing, and foul poles, as well as oversaw installation of the outfield wall, backstop net, and various player-related areas. The team also managed the planting of the corn that is part of the iconic outfield background.
“This was an incredibly satisfying project,” said Cook. “Our goal was to build a field that not only replicates the Field of Dreams movie magic, but make it so players are literally stepping out of the cornfield onto a first-class major league field that has been transplanted in the middle of an Iowa farm. We built it, and they came.”
Come gametime, BrightView’s 12 person grounds crew, which includes eight native Iowans, is responsible for mowing, painting, and lining the field, as well as raking the base paths, grooming the infield, and changing bases between innings.
“MLB at Field of Dreams exemplifies BrightView’s passion for and commitment to helping bring grandiose ideas, improbable concepts, and even movie dreams to life,” said Andrew Masterman, BrightView president and chief executive officer. “Each project we work on with Major League Baseball is unique and presents its own challenges, but Murray and his crew are the best in the business, and they always rise to the occasion.”
Field of Dreams field fast facts:
- 100,000 square feet of sod was laid
- 300 pounds of grass seed was used
- 30,000 cubic yards of material was excavated
- 159 acres of corn, standing 10 to 12 feet tall, surround the field
- 4,000 tons of sand and 2,000 tons of pea gravel was installed under the new grass
- 8 Iowans work on BrightView’s gameday grounds crew