George Toma, the legendary NFL groundskeeper known as “The Sodfather,” has dropped the goods on what made for a noticeably slippery field during Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium.
During the broadcast, fans and media members were quick to point out the poor conditions as players on both teams frequently struggled to find their footing.
At long last, we finally have some clarity on what went down.
It appears a lack of giving the field proper time to dry after being watered is what made for the unfortunate display we all witnessed.
Here’s Toma, a man who’s been involved with field preparation for all 57 Super Bowls, with Super Bowl LVII unfortunately being his last.
“So, what he does,” Toma said, referring to Ed Mangan, the NFL field director who was in charge of the Super Bowl field and worked under Toma for years, “he waters the hell out of it and puts it right into the stadium and that’s it. Never sees sunlight again. He can’t do that … “It had a rotten smell.”
George Toma explaining Super Bowl field conditions (ESPN)
A wet field getting rolled into a stadium and then laying under a tarp sounds like the exact recipe for the debacle we got.
Toma continued to rail into Mangan’s approach.
“He 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.”
After Super Bowl LVII, the NFL put out a statement basically saying nothing was wrong with the field and that the “surface met the required standards for the maintenance of natural surfaces, as per NFL policy.”
But it sure seems like the best course of action is to take the passionate words of a 94-year-old man who has more than 80 years of experience in the groundskeeping business over some cliche PR statement from the NFL league office.
Toma, who has been frustrated with how the NFL responded to the issues, had one final finisher.
And it’s a good one.
“I can’t take it anymore. Me and the league are finished. They can’t tell me what to do anymore. We’re done.”
Cheers to George Toma for finally speaking out on the glaring field issues we saw in Super Bowl LVII. It’s just a shame all of this happened on his last Super Bowl hurrah.