Review underway after Pro Football Hall of Fame game is canceled

This year’s Hall of Fame Game was supposed to feature the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts, but neither team was able to get their first reps of 2016 due to the contest being cancelled mere hours before kick off was scheduled. Yet, for some reason, fans in attendance weren’t given the bad news until much closer to the 8 p.m. kickoff time.

For the rookies and un-drafted free agents finding themselves on the bubble of the roster, the game meant everything as they attempt to impress their coaches and peers. But it was the only decision that could be made.

Charges will be automatically refunded to ticketholders who paid by credit card.

This game is arguably the most high-profile exhibition match ever called off.

Both the Colts and Packers returned to their locker rooms.

The traditional exhibition in Canton, Ohio, an extra preseason contest for each team and source of local pride, was canceled when National Football League and team officials deemed the turf unsafe due to hardened paint and loosened rubber pellets.

National Football League fields have come a long way from the days of unsafe artificial surfaces, but the head of the players’ union says there’s much more room for improvement.

How hard were the congealed areas of paint?

How comforting it is to note that, apparently, no one struggled with the idea of playing a game on a field that had deteriorated into a tar-like substance at midfield and in the end zones.

There is a bounce to the field and it can be fairly forgiving when you fall on it. Paint used on the synthetic turf for logos turned hard and sticky, making it risky for the players.

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The former Fawcett stadium, now named for National Football League owner Tom Benson is half-way through renovations as part of the multi-year construction of the Hall of Fame Village project. It will hurt some of the bubble players, who were hoping for an extra opportunity to impress their coaches in a game situation, but limits the chances for starters and backups to get hurt (or really anyone else). Pace hails from Sandusky, OH, so making it into the Hall was especially meaningful to him and his family, but also to St. Louis Rams fans, whose team moved back to Los Angeles this year.