Football Pitch FAQ 11. Is installing a drainage system worth the cost?

A good question and one which needs careful consideration in relation to the business plan for an organisation. Besides the initial installation costs there will be increased maintenance costs to ensure the drainage stays viable.

If secondary drainage (such as sand-gravel slits) has been installed then a major renovation, on top of increased annual maintenance of regular sand topdressings to prevent the slits from capping over with soil, might be needed every 7-years to maximise the investment.

Whilst the initial capital cost may be relatively high (in the region of £30,000 to £40,000 (2024 costs) for a piped drainage system with sand-gravel slits as secondary drainage), don’t forget that this may be able to be repaid over a fixed period of time.

To estimate indicative repayment costs, we might say that if this was repayable over a 5-year period, then this may be in the region of £800 per month (but subject to actual APR and amount borrowed). If annual pitch maintenance costs were also taken into account of say £10,000 (but it could be more or less than this), then £19,600 would be needed per annum to service this one pitch.

If the number of games playable was planned as 120 per season, this would equate to about £165 income being required per game. Where more games were able to be played then there would be a surplus made, or a reduced cost per game allowed.

If income is expected to be minimal and the usage expectation is also low for a particular pitch, then it would be difficult to justify investing in a drainage system. However, the use of mole drainage along with intensive deep aeration might be a more cost-effective and appropriate for such a situation.

To have a football pitch mole-drained might cost in the region of £500, but this will depend on the usual factors of how far a contractor has to travel to site and whether other works are also to be carried out.