By John Kmitta
Rising Star Award Winner Gage Knudson oversees one of the busiest multi-use venues in the country as senior manager, turf and grounds, for BMO Stadium – home of Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC).
“When the club started in 2018, the original vision for the stadium was to be a multi-sport venue that hosted soccer, rugby and lacrosse with the occasional concert,” said Knudson. “The following year (2019), when I arrived, we had three or four concerts on the books with the hope of another show or two the next year – and then COVID happened.
“Coming out of COVID there was a shift in focus of what we wanted to do from a business perspective, and that drove the concert business for us at LAFC,” Knudson added. “We hit it hard and had eight concerts; the following year we added four more onto that. We also added another tenant in 2022, when it was announced that Angel City Football Club, a professional women’s team playing in NWSL, would be playing at BMO Stadium.”
The event load at BMO Stadium now includes wide range of concerts and events on top of the full Major League Soccer schedule for LAFC and the NWSL schedule for Angel City FC. In the last year, for example, BMO Stadium hosted 62 games, as well as 32 miscellaneous field events, including 16 different concerts, and 10 commercials or other film projects at the stadium. According to Knudson, that has become the sweet spot for BMO Stadium.
“We average somewhere between 2-1/2 and 3-1/2 days between field events over the last couple of years,” he said. “So a big part of my career is just trying to figure out how do you solve this Rubik’s Cube of high use.”
But Knudson is eager to solve problems and figure out how things work.
“I’m very driven and curious in what I do,” he said. “When I found out that I could do a job like this, that drove me and influenced my career. I had no idea that you could even get into this industry and that there were people who manage fields as a career.”
Originally from Junction City, Kansas, Knudson played football and baseball, and also wrestled. And although he grew up in the city, he helped on his grandparents’ farm by milking cows and mowing pastures. That led him to Kansas State University (K-State), where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, with a focus on turfgrass management.
While at K-State, Knudson worked at the K-State research facility, and also worked with K-State Athletics, helping out with soccer.
In 2018, he interned with the New York Red Bulls – the same year they won the SFMA Field of the Year Award. The work that Dan Shemesh and Neal Sitzman did in New York influenced Knudson in his career journey, and, following graduation from K-State, he took a job with LAFC in 2019, working at the team’s training facility.
“I did that for about a year and a half, and then took over the stadium in 2021,” he said. “I oversee pitch recovery, and long-term maintenance recovery of internal, external events. We have five full-time staff; I have two assistants – one at BMO Stadium and the other at our LAFC training facility.”
The LAFC training facility is located approximately 20 minutes from BMO Stadium, so Knudson’s crew is split into two separate staffs – each with their own equipment.
“We only have one training field for our first team, so it’s a high-use field,” he said. “Our training facility is located on a college campus (Cal State LA), so we share some property. We maintain two additional grass fields from an agronomic and maintenance perspective, which allows our second team and academy teams to train on them on an everyday basis.”
There are two fields at the Cal State LA site, and the usage schedule is broken down into two-hour windows. From 8 to 10 a.m. is the Cal State women’s team window, 10 a.m. to noon is the only dedicated maintenance window, noon to 2 p.m. is LAFC second team or a Cal State men’s team window, and then from 2:30 to 7 p.m. anywhere from three to five LAFC Academy teams train there.
“LAFC is a very well-oiled machine,” said Knudson. “We want to be number one on the field, and number one in the business. So that really drives the event load. Our goal is always to put out the most visually appealing and best field we possibly can. We understand that player safety is our number-one objective. Conditions are paramount and then aesthetics come 1B to us. If we can get it as a 1A, awesome, we’re happy; but for us it’s always about playability and safety.”
The MLS season runs from February to November – possibly even into December. And Southern California is usually the first or last stop on a tour for concerts and other events.
“We’re very fortunate to be in a big market that allows us to tap into an employee force here out in Southern California to mobilize if we have to flip the field over in 48 hours,” said Knudson. “We have the resources to be able to do that. By improving our infrastructure and equipment, increasing grow lights and staffing budgets, we’ve been able to condense that window.”
Knudson estimates that he has handled approximately 50 concerts since he has been at LAFC, and each one is different. But he is constantly learning from the process.
“Dealing with a living plant is always challenging and no conditions are ever the same,” he said.
As part of that effort, Knudson relies on technology and data.
“I try to use as much data as possible to make the best decisions possible,” he said. “Rather than hoping we are making the right decision, there are pieces of equipment we can use to help guide us in the right direction. Like everything with technology and data, it’s trying to sift through that so you’re not getting bogged down in it.”
Foremost, however, Knudson relies on his team.
“We are very fortunate to have the staff that’s come along over the last couple of years,” he said. “We look for people who are hardworking, passionate about what they do, and dedicated. We have found success by hiring people who have those qualities and then we teach them the turfgrass side of things.
“I’ve been at LAFC, and I’ve risen up from groundsman to assistant manager to senior manager,” he added. “So I put myself in their position and I try to show them that if you are passionate about it and willing to put in the work, good things will come to you.”
Knudson learned some of those lessons from Shemesh and Sitzman, and also credits Jerad Minnick with helping to guide him on the data and analytics side of the business. He also recognizes the impact of Andre Bruce, a consultant at K-State Athletics, as well as that of his father-in-law, David Stuhlsatz, who was field manager at K-State.
He also credits advice he received from his cousin, who told him to “find the Google of your industry, and get them on your resume.”
“He said, ‘You’ll look back on your career and you’ll be really proud of what you’ve built.’ That’s what led me to the Red Bulls, and that’s what led me here to LAFC.”
The people of the industry – and the people he works with – are Knudson’s favorite part of the job.
“It’s like a family and those are values that are very important to me and my wife, Erica,” he said. “At a busy facility, how do you balance a busy life? Luckily, I have a very good staff who are rock stars and we’re able to split up the work. If we have work we need to get it done, let’s get the work done. If we don’t need to be here, let’s not be here.”
Despite the challenges of the heavy event load and balancing work and life, Knudson and his wife – who are expecting their first child – enjoy spending time together at the beach or going hiking or just slow days together taking time to relax and not always be on the go.
Added Knudson, “I’m very fortunate to have my wife, she keeps me grounded.”
What their nominator had to say:
Gage Knudson exemplifies what it means to be a rising star in sports field management. He has proven that elite field conditions and a heavy event schedule can coexist through data-driven management and innovative turf strategies. Gage’s commitment to his staff, and ability to adapt under pressure make him an invaluable asset to the profession. His dedication, leadership and impact on the industry make him a deserving recipient of the Rising Star Award.
Editor’s Note: SportsFieldManagementOnline.com has profiled each of this year’s Rising Star Award winners online so that each winner is highlighted in our featured spot on the site. You can also read about all of this year’s winners in the October issue of SportsField Management.
Special thanks to STEC Equipment for sponsoring the Rising Star Awards.
