If there may be one side of sports activities which the NFL ought to have an unquestioned experience, it needs to be within the upkeep of its enjoying surfaces. If the NBA and NHL can share stadiums and puzzle piece courts collectively over ice, then the NFL ought to have the ability to have the grass in pristine situation on the Tremendous Bowl host metropolis. For a second-consecutive season, there’s a extremely publicized turf drawback. The San Francisco 49ers are, reportedly, not pleased with their observe area.
A number of NFL insiders reported on Monday that the sphere at UNLV was less than the requirements the 49ers anticipated. Even earlier than the gamers stepped onto the sphere, staff officers had been displeased with the floor. They believed that it was too soft, it felt spongy, and put the staff at an obstacle. A doable reason behind this is likely to be that UNLV practices on area turf, so the NFL needed to lay a grass floor on prime, which the league did solely per week in the past.
At Tremendous Bowl Opening Night time, the gamers deferred questions concerning the high quality of the observe area to move coach Kyle Shanahan. His response was that the staff shouldn’t be altering observe location and is resigned to what they need to work with for the remainder of the week.
“It is what it is,” Shanahan said to the media. “We’ll be alright. It’s the field we got.”
Throughout his Monday press convention, Roger Goodell defended the situation of the sphere. He mentioned that, whereas the floor is softer than the 49ers are accustomed to, it was permitted by specialists.
Final season, the Tremendous Bowl floor problem was the sport area at State Farm Stadium. Gamers from each the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles had been critical of it after the sport when talking to the media. Frank Clark mentioned that it was “kind of terrible.” Jordan Mailata mentioned “it was like a water park out there.”
A league that’s pulling in almost $20 billion in income each season, and sells Tremendous Bowl tickets for hundreds of {dollars}, is battling the fundamentals. It’s dangerous sufficient that MetLife Stadium swallows achilles and ACLs complete, however that’s a synthetic floor. As a lot debate as there may be surrounding area turf, the NFL can not even get pure grass proper. There have been complaints about the grass at Levi Stadium for Tremendous Bowl 50, too.
The person who labored on each Tremendous Bowl area from the primary to the 57th, George Toma, spoke final 12 months about how he has been compelled to cope with extra area issues in recent times than prior to now. He was not about to take the blame for what occurred in Glendale, Ariz. Each of his Dan Le Batard Present with Stugotz interviews will sound silly to those that aren’t conversant in the present, however Toma made a robust case that the league has an institutional drawback with the best way that it maintains its enjoying surfaces. In response to a Kansas Metropolis Star profile from 2018, Toma is a genius in relation to taking good care of fields, so whereas he rambles a bit, he does know what he’s speaking about.
Within the phrases of Johnny Tapia in Dangerous Boys II, “This is a stupid f-cking problem to have.” Stadiums are constructed within the NFL with 200 luxurious suites and world-class facilities, however the precise enjoying surfaces depart a lot to be desired.
The NFL has a lot cash that it would as nicely be the Federal Reserve. The {dollars} fly into the staff house owners’ pockets from prospects, networks, sponsors, and extra. It’s the most profitable product within the historical past of tv. One would suppose {that a} enterprise of this magnitude may have the ability to do the job of a park district and preserve its fields in good condition. I assume that’s too massive of an issue even for the large brains within the proprietor’s packing containers and on Park Avenue. Good luck to them as they attempt to roll grass on MetLife Stadium and different amenities for the World Cup in two years.
