The other point of contention was the painted Hall of Fame logo in the middle of the field, which did not dry properly and created a slick, rock-hard surface.
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Players from the Packers and Colts, who had lined the 45-yard lines as part of a short program to give fans something to experience, applauded him loudly, an act that clearly touched him. There would have surely been a higher than normal number of injuries had they played last night (which would have raised interesting liability issues for the National Football League for not providing a safe playing environment). “Suisham led the charge this offseason on this issue, which helped result in the creation of a joint committee between the National Football League and NFLPA to monitor field conditions, including at non-traditional venues like Canton”.
The fallout from the Hall of Fame game cancellation continued Tuesday.
Last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers had complaints about the quality of the field, and it may have contributed to them losing kicker Shaun Suisham for the year. Obviously, it’s a preseason game.
Things looked bad less than two hours before kickoff when both teams’ head coaches, general managers, owners and medical staffs were conferencing at midfield.
The NFL pointed the finger at the Hall of Fame crew, but the backlash reverberated to NFL headquarters in NY. One group of seven plaintiffs got ,000 in a case that included allegations of witness tampering by the NFL. Troy Vincent, the league’s chief executive for the game operations, sent out a memo to team owners on Monday.
In the memo, which was obtained by NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, Vincent said, “ultimately I am accountable for ensuring the field is of the highest standard”. All logos will be stitched into the surface so there will not be any issues like there were Sunday when the field was deemed unfit Sunday.
– The independent field tester noted in his report that the “painting was fairly heavy with some crusting on the surface”.
Baker told NFL Media, “We think we could make it playable, that it might be playable now, but if there is any concern, anything in the minds of players, we want to err on the side of player safety”.
After Brett Favre stole the show with a humorous, insightful and moving speech during the induction ceremony for his class on Saturday, the talk of league turned the next night to the field.
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“These will be particularly helpful as we evaluate stadiums for future worldwide games”, Vincent noted which could be an interesting thing to finish with.
