The year is 2021, and in Preparation for the Upcoming Canadian Football Season, The Calgary Stampeders turned to The Sodfather to repair the Olympic North Side Hill. In the year before the pandemic, their field (McMahon Stadium) had hosted the annual CFL Grey Cup Championship game. During this game, stands had been erected on the north side to provide more seating for fans of Canadian Football. In order to do this, the hill had to be cut into to build stanchions for solid footing.

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Needless to say, it looked extremely rough heading into 2021. This is where The Sodfather came in. Armed with Community and University Athletes, They got to Work on Removing the Existing Material, Adding Fresh Soil and New Sod to the hill. And let me tell you, Those Hills are Steep! Over the course of 24 hours, the crew got to work removing the old area with sod cutters, skid steers and good old fashioned shovels.

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Once things were removed and a clean slate was created, it was important to contour the hills back to normal to address drainage and run off going to the proper areas. a Fresh set of topsoil later, and a little Rain to help with showing the water flow, they were Ready!

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Enter the Big Roll Sod! The coolest way to Install Sod in all of North America. Big Roll Sod is extremely beneficial, especially on hills such as McMahon Stadium. Its Windy in the Foothills!  And Big Roll provides less sod seams that the wind can attack and dry out the sod. Of course in a situation like this, Thousands of Landscaping Pins were used in order to Secure the Sod in place and prevent a Sod Avalanche! Yes, that is a real thing! It can happen during the Heavy Watering Period of establishment. 

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With that potential crisis averted, and the rain letting up, the Sod was Installed and the cuts / transitions were finished.

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What was left? to go to a Stampeders game that season with the whole team to Celebrate a job well done!

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Head on Over to our Photos and Videos for our McMahon Stadium music video Retrospective!