How did they work the 80 Yard Field in Winnipeg?

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NWebster
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How did they work the 80 Yard Field in Winnipeg?

Post by NWebster »

I didn't see it, did they shift the ball? I see in the Gamebook reference to being at the 40 something yard line, which doesn't seem possible on an 80 yard field??

What are the other examples of such an adjustment, obviously there's the sneaker game which immediately comes to mind but there must be others.

Finally, now two consecutive years with alterations being made due to field quality, where is this going long term? Frankly I cannot imagine that last night's field or the field in Mexico City last year could be any more dangerous than the older fields with the dirt from baseball diamond on them?
Reaser
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Re: How did they work the 80 Yard Field in Winnipeg?

Post by Reaser »

I watched the game.

There was no kickoffs and the endzones were from the 10 yardline to the goalline. So 10 to 10 was the 80 yard field.
NWebster
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Re: How did they work the 80 Yard Field in Winnipeg?

Post by NWebster »

Reaser wrote:I watched the game.

There was no kickoffs and the endzones were from the 10 yardline to the goalline. So 10 to 10 was the 80 yard field.
I see now, so looking at the play by play there were zero plays inside the 10 yard line. There was one play listed from the 11 yard line, so theoretically if a player were tackled for a 2 yard loss on that play that would have been a Safety right? I'm a little sad something like that didn't happen. Also, wouldn't all the FG distances be off? Meaning a FG from the 30 Yard line would be a 37 Yarder rather than a 47 Yarder, but when I look at the gamebook it looks like they moved the back of the endzone up but not the goal posts as the FG distances were Yardline+17 Yards.
Gary Najman
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Re: How did they work the 80 Yard Field in Winnipeg?

Post by Gary Najman »

What, if I understand correctly they didn't adjust the CFL field to a to a NFL field so the goal posts were at the CFL goal line? By the way, I read that fewere than 22,000 attended.

In 2010 they played a college football game at Wrigley Field between Illinois and Northwestern and IIRC each team had to change sides since both endzones weren't big enough. It was bizarre.

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/20/spor ... igley.html


UPDATE: I am just watching the highlights and is very confusing.
Last edited by Gary Najman on Fri Aug 23, 2019 7:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Gary Najman
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Re: How did they work the 80 Yard Field in Winnipeg?

Post by Gary Najman »

NWebster wrote: Finally, now two consecutive years with alterations being made due to field quality, where is this going long term? Frankly I cannot imagine that last night's field or the field in Mexico City last year could be any more dangerous than the older fields with the dirt from baseball diamond on them?
And what about the field condition of the Packers-Colts Hall of Fame game at newly renovated Fawcett Stadium in Canton in 2016? IOt had to be cancelled just before kickoff with all the fans in the stands.
JohnH19
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Re: How did they work the 80 Yard Field in Winnipeg?

Post by JohnH19 »

I was at the debacle on Thursday night only because my son was able to get four free tickets from the "promoter". He promised all kinds of promotional activities to make this a "once in a lifetime event" and he fulfilled none of them other than teams loosely resembling the Packers and Raiders actually showing up to play a game. They didn't, however, show up in time to have even one practice. There was no press conference, no PR events and no interviews (that I saw). There was nothing but the game which didn't include any noteworthy players. Strange for a third preseason game, isn't it?

I don't know who shoulders the blame for the 80 yard field but it certainly isn't anyone connected with the stadium or the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The field was approved on Wednesday and then apparently, just before the game, the Packers didn't like the tiny areas where the uprights had to be removed from the CFL field to accommodate the NFL field. The Raiders still play some regular season games on baseball infield dirt and many teams played for years on artificial turf fields with dangerous surfaces and seams. Now they can't play because there's a small square area in the end zones which may have been a tad softer than the rest of the field? Ridiculous. Jon Gruden said he didn't know what the problem was.

Regarding the size of the crowd; tickets started at $75 in the corners of the upper deck and went up to around $400. Do those prices for a preseason NFL game sound attractive to anyone? The cheap seats sold fairly quickly but the high end tickets understandably didn't move. Six thousand $164 end zone seats were reduced to $75 a week or two before the game. The attendance was announced at just under 22,000 but it didn't look to me like the stadium was more than half full. People were scattered all over the place so it was hard to tell. I would say it was more in the 16-17,000 neighbourhood.
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65 toss power trap
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Re: How did they work the 80 Yard Field in Winnipeg?

Post by 65 toss power trap »

NWebster wrote:Also, wouldn't all the FG distances be off? Meaning a FG from the 30 Yard line would be a 37 Yarder rather than a 47 Yarder, but when I look at the gamebook it looks like they moved the back of the endzone up but not the goal posts as the FG distances were Yardline+17 Yards.
The goalposts remained where they were, on the end line of the NFL formatted field. That meant that all field goals were +27 from the yard line of the line of scrimmage. All extra point kicks were 10 yards longer as well.

I don't know if they are going to manually force-edit the statistics and the gamebook for a preseason game, but the scorekeeper just followed the yard lines on the field, and added a note to subtract 10 on each touchdown and for punts into the relocated end zone.

In any event, a very poor job by Football Operations in inspecting and controlling the conditions at neutral sites (including Mexico City last year as well).
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Todd Pence
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Re: How did they work the 80 Yard Field in Winnipeg?

Post by Todd Pence »

IIRC, the NFL's first-ever postseason game was played on an 80-yard field. Also the 1964 Liberty Bowl.
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