This is not the same surface used in last year’s Hall of Fame Game, in which Steelers kicker Shaun Suisham suffered a season-ending injury.
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In an era when the NFL is attempting to do far more than pay lip service to “player safety”, there was no other decision for Baker and the league to make.
Harrison, who is normally a man of (extremely) few words, strung together more sentences than I think I’ve ever heard him say at one time (and I’ve seen a lot of interviews with the man) when he was officially inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.
Hall of Fame executive director David Baker apologized to the throngs of football fans and stated that those in attendance would receive full refunds for their tickets. The game was called because the painted logos at midfield and the end zones became hard and slick, a combination that is potentially risky to players.
The issue came down to the paint used by grounds crews to paint the midfield logo and endzones for the game.
The Green Bay Packers were supposed to take on the Indianapolis Colts, but the game was called off due to poor field condition.
“We were trying to see if we could get the field good to play with about two hours before the game; even up to nearly 90 minutes we were hoping that a wash-down and a certain attempt to make it right could be found”, Irsay said.
The NFL and NFL Players Association released a joint statement about the cancellation, explaining, “We are very disappointed for our fans, but player safety is our primary concern, and as a result, we could not play an NFL game on this field tonight”.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Scalzo the game’s location – Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium – will not be a topic of discussion for the league at this time.
The statute of limitations for taking legal action will be open much longer, and depending on the specific principles of OH law the available compensation could exceed the price of the tickets significantly, including travel costs, lodging costs, and other expenses related to a trip to Canton for a game that wasn’t played.
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“We are working with the Hall and the field supplier to determine what caused this issue”, National Football League spokesman Brian McCarthy said. G-max testing is an impact test that measures shock attenuation, or how much impact players’ bodies will absorb when they fall; the harder a surface is, the more impact a player’s body would absorb. This is the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “If we don’t have that integrity to respect our players and respect their safety, then we shouldn’t be doing this job”. We’re going to thoroughly look at what occurred to make this not happen.
