Denver Broncos Stay Safe During Winter Training Thanks to New Ice-melt Solution
BASF The football team’s headquarters say goodbye to granular salt deicers and hello to a better alternative.
Brooks Dodson is the Director of Sports Turf & Grounds for The Denver Broncos Football Club and that is no small feat. He is responsible for approximately 26 acres of property at The UCHealth Training Center—the corporate headquarters of the Denver Broncos. Therefore, when winter rolls around, he is the one responsible for the highly valued football stars’ safety, players who cannot afford any slip-and-fall accidents and sit out the entire season.
Add to that mix the amount of media, staff and fans that visit the property and come through the center’s doors—and walkway safety is a must.“Getting everyone in/out and around the facility safely is our responsibility, and we take that seriously.
We don’t want anyone hurt,” said Dodson. As a result, every year, Dodson’s facility staff would bring out the calcium chloride—various salt deicers—and apply it with a spreader or a cup to prevent slippery walkways.
However, the rock-salt product residue would be dragged indoors, damaging carpets, tiles and concrete in and around the buildings. “When you are handling or spreading bags of ice melt … you can smell it and if the wind is wrong it’ll get in your mouth and you can taste it.
I don’t know about you, but I prefer not putting that type of stuff in my body,” he added. Dodson decided it was time to seek out a more environmentally friendly product—in the form of a liquid.
He attended the Sports Turf Managers Association trades how last winter and found just that in Entry. Entry ice melt is a liquid deicer based on potassium formate, a cleaner alternative to chloride-based salts, derived from formic acid, an organic acid produced locally by BASF Corp. in Geismar, Louisiana.
Formate salts are less corrosive and have a lesser impact on surrounding flora, which makes them both more plant and pet friendly. Entry breaks down hydrogen bonds formed when water freezes. As a result, once the product is sprayed, it removes thin layers of ice and snow, and prevents new snow from accumulating or icing.
Entry reduces the freezing point of water to approximately minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit.