The Patriots are racing the calendar to get a playable field in place before Thursday night’s preseason opener against the Colts.
After the final World Cup match at Gillette Stadium, the FIFA-required grass came out and an artificial turf surface went in. That first turf, though, didn’t make the cut. According to Mike Reiss of ESPN, the NFL and NFL Players Association independent laboratory testing protocol found the surface was “ noncompliant.”
Patriots chief operating officer Jim Nolan said the team is now installing another version of the field, but the turnaround is tight and the explanation leaves a few questions hanging.
“The field we’re installing is the latest version of the field we took out in January,” Nolan told Reiss. “From a player perspective, it will be incredibly consistent with what they played on last year.”
Why that same field wasn’t put back down in the first place remains unclear.
The new surface is going in this week, with the preseason opener set for Thursday night in Foxborough. If it doesn’t clear the necessary checks, the game could be in jeopardy.
That wouldn’t be unprecedented. Ten years ago, the Colts and Packers Hall of Fame Game was wiped out because the paint had become “ congealed and rubberized.”
The fallout even led to litigation from fans who had bought tickets and, in some cases, traveled to Canton. Twenty-five years ago, a Ravens-Eagles game at Veterans Stadium was canceled because of “ uneven cutouts ” in the field, which was then shared by football and baseball.
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