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Fewer injuries, lower maintenance costs and more practice facilities. All benefits of a school board-approved project to put down new synthetic turf football fields at three Collier County high schools this summer.

Take it from someone who knows, though — none of those could be the biggest advantage of the $2.7 million endeavor to replace the fields at Immokalee, Lely and Naples.

Barron Collier was the first school in the area to get a new Field Turf playing surface when the new field at Cougar Stadium was christened in September. The Cougars saw an immediate impact, said athletic director Jason Mitterwager, who thinks the new fields will raise the level of football in Collier County.

“The schools that came in to play us went crazy — they love playing on it,” Mitterwager said. “We received every team’s best effort. Every game was like Opening Day or a Homecoming celebration. Every game was a battle.”

The price tag on the artificial fields has turned some heads, especially when a statewide revenue shortfall is causing the school district to make budget cuts. The $2.7 million used to pay for the three fields, though, will come out of capital dollars, which are separate from the district’s operating fund.

After the initial cost, the Field Turf will save the district more than $700,000 over the next 10 years in maintenance, said Richard Clukey, the district’s executive director of support services.

The same reason the fields save on upkeep costs is the same reason they are safer for athletes — they don’t become damaged from overuse.

The three schools picked to receive the turf were chosen because their current fields were rated as the worst in the county. That’s partly because teams are forced to use the game fields for practice.

And not just the varsity football teams. The fields are also used by the junior varsity and freshmen squads, as well as the boys and girls soccer teams and the marching band.

At Naples and Lely, schools surrounded by urban development with little room to expand, some teams are forced to practice on the baseball outfield. Some teams at Naples have to find areas off campus, such as local parks, to squeeze in practice time.

“Because we have so little green space, we have some serious issues when it comes to moving around practice-wise,” Golden Eagles athletic director Ernie Modugno said. “(The new turf) will allow us to practice on the main field whenever possible. It will help an awful lot.”

Lely football coach Steve Pricer has seen the devastating effects of an inferior playing surface. Because the Trojans’ football field is so overused, it’s not uncommon to see the turf cause injuries.

Two Trojan football players have suffered severe leg injuries in the past two years, Pricer said, by catching their feet in holes in the field filled with sand. One player, whom the coach declined to name, is just coming back from an injury suffered last season.

“This new generation of field turf reduces injuries,” Pricer said. “It’s just better on the body.

“The good thing about it is, you always know what you’re going to get. It’s not going to be too hard or compacted because of drought; it’s not going to be too wet and sloppy because of the rain. You’re always getting something that’s the same.”

All three schools hope to have construction on their new fields started by early May and finished by mid-August.

Both Naples and Lely have moved their spring football games to their opponents’ fields. The Eagles will play at Clewiston in May, while Lely plays at Clearwater Countryside. The Trojans also moved their Aug. 29 preseason game to Lehigh for the second straight year.

Modugno said the goal is for the Eagles’ field to be ready for play by Aug. 1, well before their first scheduled home game, Sept. 5 against Miami Monsignor Pace. Immokalee’s first home game is Sept. 12 against Dunbar, while Lely opens its home slate Sept. 19 against Palmetto Ridge.

While the new turf will save on maintenance costs — mowing, watering and putting down lines — Mitterwager has warned his fellow ADs that the fields must still be cared for. The biggest threat, he said, is hard candy or gum getting deep into the fibers and into the rubber of the synthetic field. If that happens, the section of the field affected must be cut out and replaced.

Still, all four athletic directors say, the synthetic fields are a boon for any school lucky enough to get one.

Mitterwager hopes that will be all schools soon. After the three schools get their new fields, that leaves just three Collier County public schools — Golden Gate, Gulf Coast and Palmetto Ridge — playing football on natural grass.

The school board’s plan, as Mitterwager understands it, eventually is to have all seven district schools playing on the Field Turf.

“We were ecstatic to be the first one to get (turf), and it’s been a grand slam as far as a resource and playability for every sport,” Mitterwager said. “Every school should receive it. There shouldn’t be an unbalance of turf and power. All schools should be equal and fair.”