Last year, the Carolina Panthers faced criticism from the NFL Players Association for the hardness of the field during a cold day in December. This year, the Panthers are taking steps to avoid a similar outcome.
Via Joseph Person of TheAthletic.com, the Panthers will use a “blanket-type device” to keep the turf warm at Bank of America Stadium.
The union ultimately filed a grievance over turf conditions for the Christmas Eve game against the Lions. NFLPA president JC Tretter later explained that the field failed the so-called “Clegg test,” which requires field hardness to be 100g or less. For Lions-Panthers, the turf at Bank of America Stadium maxed out the testing device at 150g.
“Players reached out and told us the field was way too hard, describing it as concrete,” Tretter wrote. “Players reported that they couldn’t even wear cleats because they wouldn’t sink into the turf. When we reached out to the league, they told us they were aware of these concerns and were working to remedy them.
“However, instead of delaying the game or finding another way to fix the issue, the league gave the green light to kick off the game as scheduled. Afterward, the league told us that late in the first half, the field finally did fall below the 100g max. But the fact remains that the players in that game had to play on a field that the league acknowledges was not safe. That is beyond frustrating to players and unacceptable in the eyes of our union.”
That’s the problem with any method for testing field conditions. If the field fails, what’s the NFL going to do? Cancel the game? Send everyone home? For a regular-season game or a playoff game, that’s not going to happen.
Even now, the league is dealing with the legal aftermath of a canceled Hall of Fame game more than seven years ago. Telling everyone to leave and come back later (or not at all) would entail potential liability that the league would rather not experience, especially if the league can just shrug it all off and say to both teams, “You guys always say you’d play in a parking lot. Enjoy!”
The only alternative, then, is to take steps aimed at preventing unprecedentedly cold conditions from creating unacceptable field hardness. That’s why they’re warming the field in Carolina this year. It’s something that should be done every year.
