cancellation of Hall of Fame game/Poor field conditions

thejav · Aug 7, 2016

CANTON, Ohio -- Sunday night's Hall of Fame game between the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts has been canceled because of field conditions at Tom Benson Stadium, Hall of Fame president/executive director David Baker told ESPN's Lisa Salters.

According to Baker, teams will remain at the stadium and the plan is now to host a "fan fest" of sorts.

Multiple sources told ESPN.com that both the Packers and Colts were worried about player safety as crews worked feverishly to spray solvent on the area around the midfield logo. The issue stemmed from the paint used on the logo and in the end zones.

Crews worked to spray solvent on the area around the midfield logo ahead of kickoff, but eventually the game was called because of the field conditions. Mike Wells/ESPN
One Packers player described it as "like cement" at midfield, where workers spent more than an hour trying to make it playable.

"The end zones are just as bad," the same player said about 90 minutes before the scheduled 8 p.m. ET kickoff.

"The paint on the logo won't allow a cleat to penetrate it," a Colts source said. "A definite hazard to player safety."

Colts DT Ricky Lumpkin tweeted that he was "juiced" for Sunday night's game, but "safety is number 1."

https://twitter.com/RickyLumpkin/status/762420502954586113

Packers coach Mike McCarthy and Colts coach Chuck Pagano both watched as crews tried to rectify the problem. Baker later met with representatives of both teams.

This is not the same surface used in last year's Hall of Fame game, when Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham sustained a season-ending injury.

leroy · Aug 8, 2016

What a strange thing to have had happen. There are specialized paints for synthetic turf and I'm wondering if they somehow used the wrong thing or mixed it wrong. In all my years in the turf industry, I've never heard of something like that happening.

Then...whoever had the bright f***ing idea to heat it up hopefully has already been fired. They heated it up enough to melt the rubber infill (recycled tire) which has a pretty high heat tolerance. So, they essentially melted a plastic (the grass is made of polyethylene) and rubber enough to make the center of the field and the end zones into a nice solid surface.

Bunch of dumbasses.

ron413 · Aug 8, 2016

leroy said: ↑

What a strange thing to have had happen. There are specialized paints for synthetic turf and I'm wondering if they somehow used the wrong thing or mixed it wrong.
Click to expand...

http://www.packersnews.com/story/sp...g-big-problem-before-hall-fame-game/88371636/

It was obvious three hours before the game started that there was a problem. A motorized sweeper was scraping the red, white and blue Hall of Fame logo at midfield, scattering piles of rubber pellets that sit below the surface of the UBU turf and prevent players' cleats from sticking in the artificial surface.

Later, Hall of Fame executive director David Baker explained that the wrong kind of paint was used on the midfield hall of fame logo and the giant red and white letters in both end zones, causing unsafe conditions. A source familiar with players on both teams said they told him the surface was like "concrete" in some places and largely unplayable.

In other areas, particularly where letters were piped in red, it was almost as though the paint melted on the artificial grass blades and rubber pellets, resulting in a gooey mixture that might have caused players' cleats to stick into the ground. The actual surface, transplanted from the Superdome in New Orleans after the 2016 Sugar Bowl, wasn't the problem.

Baker, booed by the crowd as he took the microphone at midfield to explain the cancellation, said as important as the game is to the Canton area, he had to bow to player safety.

"We heard their concerns," Baker said in an interview on ESPN, which was scheduled to televise the game. "Though it was a difficult decision, a lot of fans came a long way. But it was the only decision that could be made. There will be a refund policy. I don't know what it is yet."

Both teams started to come out on the field a little before 5 p.m. and not long after there were coaches, team officials and medical personnel congregated at midfield. At first, it appeared workers were trying to clear the field of the rubber pellets, which were piling up in a half circle around the logo.

McCarthy, Colts coach Chuck Pagano and numerous team officials from both sides gathered to discuss the situation and watch the grounds crew work on the logo. In the meantime, players started to jog, stretch and walk around the areas of the field that did not appear to be affected.

As the workers continued to scuff the surface of the Hall of Fame logo, the prospect of everything being cleared away in time for the start of the game started looking spotty.

Packers general manager Ted Thompson huddled with team physician Patrick McKenzie for a considerable amount of time just two hours before the start of the game as workers continued to sweep over the paint and then shovel up the piles of rubber pellets and distribute them evenly back on the field.

"Again, player safety is so important now," president Mark Murphy said. "The biggest issue facing the league is concern about health and safety. When you have something like this come up, I think you have to make sure you do your due diligence and really look at it.

"The decision that the league and the Hall of Fame made, we support it, and I think it was the only decision that could be made."

The UBU turf is not the same surface that the Pittsburgh Steelers complained bitterly about after kicker Shaun Suisham tore his ACL without contact in last year's Hall of Fame game. The stadium underwent Phase One of an $80 million renovation this off-season and this turf was installed for the sole purpose of hosting this game.

Phase Two of the renovation starts this week and part of that work consists of tearing off this turf and installing a new permanent surface.
Click to expand...

ipaman · Aug 8, 2016

NFL is in a constant PR nightmare that they somehow continue to survive from. It's mind boggling they continue to thrive as the bad PR continues year after year.

HardenTime · Aug 8, 2016

colts vs. vikings superbowl 51.. its a lock

TheresTheDagger · Aug 8, 2016

There will be a refund policy. Great.

Will they refund the lodging, gas, food, plane tickets, cab rides and vacation time the fans spent to get there?

What a colossal blunder by the NFL. For a multi-billion dollar league, you'd think they'd hire competent people to do this type of thing. Its not like it hasn't been done before thousands of times all over the world or anything...

And the thing about player safety...I sorta get it...until you take into account all the games they've played on slippery surfaces due to weather over the past many years. Are they gonna start considering canceling games over that too in the future?

What a mess.

leroy · Aug 8, 2016

TheresTheDagger said: ↑

There will be a refund policy. Great.

Will they refund the lodging, gas, food, plane tickets, cab rides and vacation time the fans spent to get there?

What a colossal blunder by the NFL. For a multi-billion dollar league, you'd think they'd hire competent people to do this type of thing. Its not like it hasn't been done before thousands of times all over the world or anything...

And the thing about player safety...I sorta get it...until you take into account all the games they've played on slippery surfaces due to weather over the past many years. Are they gonna start considering canceling games over that too in the future?

What a mess.
Click to expand...

What happened with this field is a lot different than playing in the rain. Imagine playing on a field that has a concrete parking lot in the middle of it. It was likely like that.

Brando2101 · Aug 8, 2016

TheresTheDagger said: ↑

There will be a refund policy. Great.

Will they refund the lodging, gas, food, plane tickets, cab rides and vacation time the fans spent to get there?

What a colossal blunder by the NFL. For a multi-billion dollar league, you'd think they'd hire competent people to do this type of thing. Its not like it hasn't been done before thousands of times all over the world or anything...
Click to expand...

I agree. I think the problem was that they have some kind of partnership where the grounds crew for that stadium was in charge of the field. I would assume the NFL would have rather done it but it might be a contract thing. I believe the stadium officials also imported an old turf from the Superdome and probably didn't understand how it worked. The NFL did the best job they could under what was a bad contractual agreement with the stadium.

TheresTheDagger said: ↑

And the thing about player safety...I sorta get it...until you take into account all the games they've played on slippery surfaces due to weather over the past many years. Are they gonna start considering canceling games over that too in the future?
Click to expand...

I disagree adamantly here. Those rubber balls in the turn are what make is spongey so it has some bounce. Sure, a wet field can lead to slipping and maybe some torn muscles but that is a lot different from getting thrown down onto what basically became concrete. The league also has been trending more towards doing what they can to make the game safer for players and concussions would be a bigger risk if the back of their helmet came down on that part of the turf. New Orleans had horrible turf for years but they finally got that taken care of 5-6 years ago. There are also way more sophisticated drainage systems.

The NFL and Players Association also agreed last month to have reps meet at least twice a year to monitor field conditions. In addition, the NFLPA’s designated field consultant “will be granted equal access to all NFL playing fields and field test results,” according to the agreement, which was signed last week. “For the avoidance of doubt, this access includes non-traditional venues (e.g., London, Mexico City, Hall of Fame Game).”

It's also possible that they have been pushing teams with field problems to use modern artificial turf. Artificial grass used to just be in doom stadiums but it is now in use at the following NFL cities:

-Buffalo
-Seattle
-Boston
-Cincinnati
-East Rutherford, New Jersey
-Houston (Retractable Roof)
-Indianapolis (Retractable Roof)
-Santa Clara (Hybrid Grass-Synthetic)
-Philadelphia (Hybrid Grass-Synthetic)
-Green Bay (Hybrid Grass-Synthetic)

It's also worth mentioning that the NFL players anonymously rank the best and worst stadiums in the NFL. In the worst in 2002 were, Philadelphia, NY Giants/Jets, Cincinnati, Minnesota, New Orleans. All 5 of those have replaced their fields with some kind of synthetic or better quality field.

CometsWin · Aug 8, 2016

Another embarrassment for Goodell.

TheRealist137 · Aug 8, 2016

Hope this means the end of the Hall of Fame game. There is no reason for it to exist, along with another two preseason games. Colleges don't have preseason games and no one really complains, why should the NFL?

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cancellation of Hall of Fame game/Poor field conditions

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