The Packers-Raiders pre-season game was played on a 80-yard field due to a CFL post problem

Thursday night's Packers-Raiders game will be held in Winnipeg at the Canadian Football League's Blue Bombers. Even if the stadium is suitable for American football, it turns out that the pitch is not up to accommodate an NFL game, not without mess with the size of the game.

Canadian football is played on a larger field, with larger end zones and, above all, goal posts anchored on the goal line in the field. In order to adapt a CFL field to an NFL game, new goal posts must be installed, those of the CFL must be eliminated, and holes in the field where the CFL poles were to be corrected . This last point is not a minor concern. The difference in size places these holes in the middle of the end areas of the NFL, where they pose a risk to the feet, ankles and legs of players who are not used to counting them.

Redeveloping the playing area is proving to be an important undertaking. Tim Van Vooren of FOX6 in Milwaukee announced that the stadium maintenance crews spent $ 40,000 installing new goal posts for the Thursday night game, and areas of sod were stuck to cover holes in the area. goals. These patches apparently needed to be re-glued and, having walked on the pitch before the match, the Packers made the decision to retain 33 players, including each starter, out of the contest. The state of the field was still under review late in the evening, as the first supporters entered the stadium:

Without a realistic option to improve the state of the field, the decision was made. done around 20h to play this exhibition of the week 3 on a ground of 80 meters. You will not be surprised to learn that an NFL game staged on a shrunken pitch needs to alter certain rules. On the NFL website:

As a result of playing on the 80-yard field, the match will be played without a send-off, with teams starting with their possessions on the 25-yard line and the goal line on the 10-yard line.

It seems perfect that of all the teams that could have participated in this ridiculous joke during the last preseason week where all the runners are supposed to play, the Raiders vagabonds received the invitation in prime time.