Jim Irsay on HoF Game’s Cancellation: ‘We Have to Make It Right to Our Fans’

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay voiced his displeasure after the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game between the Green Bay Packers and his team was shockingly cancelled on Sunday due to poor field conditions (transcript via ESPN):

"Aug 7, 2016; Canton, OH, USA; Members of the grounds crew tend to the field prior to the 2016 Hall of Fame Game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports“Obviously, we’re disappointed that the field is not in condition to be played today,” said Jim Irsay in the aftermath of the Hall of Fame Game’s cancellation. “We’re going to thoroughly look at what occurred to make this not happen. Earlier in the day both the league and players association looked at the field and viewed it playable and it was fine. Then there was some painting that occurred that was (a) very unusual situation. So we’re going to vet it through and we certainly going to look (at it).”“We’re disappointed obviously, and we know a lot of people came out for the game so we’re going to make sure we take care of all the fans that planned to be here and that sort of thing.”“It’s a very unusual situation. It’s something that shouldn’t have occurred. We’re disappointed, but at the same time being in the league for almost a half a century I’ve seen some of these things occur before. It’s unusual obviously and we’re going to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”"

The wrong paint was applied to the field’s turf–which was sticky and tar-like, and while the grounds crew attempted to rectify the problem earlier by using a solvent for removal, this was deemed also potentially hazardous to the players:

"“This isn’t unprecedented,” added Irsay. “The unusual thing about it is that it was looking like it was good to play, then the paint job that got put down led to a very unusual, sort of toxic situation that we didn’t want to take a risk on.”"

Eventually, the paint melted into the turf forming a hard rubber that could cause injuries with cleats and hard impact:

However, Hall of Fame and league officials were still hoping to play and fix the field conditions until about an hour and a half before kickoff where the game was finally cancelled due to ongoing concerns over the state of the turf:

"Aug 7, 2016; Canton, OH, USA; A detailed view of the remains of the Hall of Fame logo on the field after the 2016 Hall of Fame Game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. The game was cancelled due to safety concerns with the condition of the playing surface. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports“We were trying to see if we could get the field good to play with about two hours before the game, even up to almost 90 minutes we were hoping that a wash-down and a certain attempt to make it right could be found,” concluded Irsay. “In the end we found that we weren’t able to do that with the time crunch that we have. Obviously we didn’t want to delay the game for hours or anything like that.”"

According to excerpts from Pro Football Talk, Irsay shifted some of the blame to the Pro Football Hall of Fame while on ESPN earlier:

"“This shouldn’t happen,” said Irsay on ESPN. “It’s not difficult. Obviously, everyone out there says, ‘You’re a $12 billion league. How can you have a field not ready to go?’ Well, the Hall of Fame is sort of separate and gets run a little different from the league. We’ll have to get it right so it never happens again.”"

Regardless of whether this was more so the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s wrongdoing in proper field preparations, the NFL is still entrusting them with their final work product.

As Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio points out, the NFL’s board of trustees is made up of the league’s top executives and owners such as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Mike Brown (President of Cincinnati Bengals), Jimmy Haslam (Cleveland Browns Owner), Jerry Jones (Dallas Cowboys Owner), Daniel M. Rooney (Chairman of Pittsburgh Steelers), and Dan Snyder (Washington Redskins Owner) among others:

That’s not to say that Irsay himself is to blame, but at the same time, his appointed league commissioner and fellow team owners are at least helping to advise and oversee the Pro Football Hall of Fame and presumably the hosting of this preseason game. It’s not as though the Pro Football Hall of Fame is acting exactly rogue here on their own accord, and they had months for preparation.

For all of the bells and whistles we saw during Hall of Fame weekend and a state of the art facility in place, it was extremely careless for whoever applied the paint to not use reasonable care and perform their due diligence when preparing the field. After all, the play on the field is actually the NFL’s final work product, and nothing else would be possible without it.

Yes, it was an extra preseason game.

However, the losers in this are the fans and families that travelled far and wide, paying good money for the expectations of seeing a football game. While they’ll be refunded, it’s something that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Not to mention, the roster bubble and fringe players trying to fight their way on the 53-man active roster who get one less opportunity to make their mark and leave a lasting impression on coaches and the front office.

That being said, player safety should come first and foremost. The Pro Football Hall of Fame and league officials ultimately made the right decision by the cancellation, but in the end, that doesn’t make the initial foul that was committed right.