Sporting fields that will have people running all over them really need to be cut with a reel mower.
Sports grass needs to be cut low and clean.
Look for a used self propelled reel mower with as large a cut as you can find
Put a foot ball on top of it and call it training by doing high step joging behind it.
If it has to be a rider the articulated Pro -rider Huskies, Stiga parks and similar mowers with the mulching decks will give the cleanest close cut you can get from a rotary mower