The NFL is taking responsibility for the poor field conditions which caused the cancellation of Sunday’s Hall of Fame Game.
According to Jim Trotter of ESPN, NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent sent a memo to all 32 teams today spelling out how the field-painting fiasco resulted in abandoning the first game of the preseason.
“While the HOF field situation underscored the challenges in working with third parties, ultimately I am accountable for ensuring the field is of the highest standard,” Vincent said.
Vincent said the league’s football operations department had to “demand and expect an extra level of detail in adhering to NFL standards, . . . for non-club fields.”
The field at Tom Benson Stadium (which is owned by the local school district and run by the Hall of Fame) was deemed unplayable because of paint from midfield and end zone logos clumping.
Vincent’s review of the case mentioned that the decking which covered the artificial turf was supposed to be gone at 8 a.m., but wasn’t completed until 2:45 p.m. Then the independent field tester noticed problems with the paint, and efforts to break up the clumps only created other problems.
“Going forward,” Vincent wrote, “the NFL-NFLPA Field Surface Safety and Performance Committee will study and advise on: injury prevention, improved field surface testing methods, the adoption of tools and techniques to evaluate and improved field surface performance/playability, and other areas that arise, such as those surrounding this incident.”
While it’s nice to take the blame, the mentioning of “third parties” is a tacit excuse, for the guy whose job is to make sure the field is fit to play on.