How a Zachary founder turned turf into a niche business

The synthetic turf market has experienced steady growth across the U.S. as municipalities and schools embrace its promise of lower maintenance and year-round accessibility.

Zachary native Jesse Simpson, who formerly pitched in the minor leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals organization, parlayed his baseball career and business acumen into Simpson Sports Engineering, a firm that helps clients across the Gulf South update sports fields with artificial turf.

The idea took root in 2013, when Simpson was working with his civil engineer father on a project installing turf on a school sports field.

“The guy that owned the turf company was telling us, ‘Hey, there’s a real market for this. Schools are starting to put a lot more focus on it, but they don’t know where to start,’” Simpson says. “So, we developed a company that is built on educating [customers] about how to get these projects done.”

Simpson Sports Engineering manages the process for sports facility managers who often don’t have a construction background. “With turf being somewhat new, it’s not something that everyone’s educated on,” Simpson says.

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