You may recall that there were plenty of complaints about the field conditions of Super Bowl 57 between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs.
Super Bowl 57 was played between the Eagles and Chiefs at State Farm Stadium (home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals) in Glendale, Arizona on Feb. 13. NFL mics caught players complaining about the conditions on multiple occasions throughout the game,.
George Toma, a former NFL groundskeeper, spoke to ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss and explained the issue with the field conditions for the Super Bowl. Toma claimed that the the field was “overwatered”, which would explain why players were slipping:
“The 94-year-old told ESPN that he believes the field was overwatered in the days leading up to the game. According to Toma, who has been nicknamed The Sodfather, the field was watered the Wednesday morning before the game and promptly rolled into the stadium on the moveable tray that housed the grass field for the last time before kickoff four days later.
Toma contended that the field should’ve been watered in the morning and kept outside to dry before being rolled in.”
Toma was critical of Ed Mangan, who serves as the league’s field director. Toma explained that Mangan overwatered the field and should have been left outside for sunlight. On top of that, the 94-year-old Toma made it clear that he’s not interested in working with the NFL anymore:
“He (Mangan) sanded it two weeks too late. He had only one sanding. He should have had two or three sandings, but he didn’t do s—. And that was it. And not only that, he didn’t take care of it. He wouldn’t listen to anybody.
Me and the league are finished. They can’t tell me what to do anymore. We’re done.
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The Chiefs and Eagles competed in a high-scoring back-and-forth game that saw Kansas City win on a late field goal from kicker Harrison Butker. With the 38-35 victory, Kansas City claimed heir second Super Bowl in four seasons.
