GLENDALE, AZ — The field at State Farm Stadium may have looked immaculate, but by the second half, it was clear that traction was not great.
"It was like playing on a water park," Philadelphia Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata said.
The grass at State Farm Stadium is on a giant tray that is rolled in and out of the retractable roof stadium.
The field sits out in the Arizona sun on warm days and is brought back inside when it gets cold.
This particular batch of grass started growing in May of 2021, but even a nearly two-year process couldn’t produce a flawless field.
ABC15 reached out to the NFL about the field conditions. The NFL released the following statement on Monday morning:
"The State Farm Stadium field surface met the required standards for the maintenance of natural surfaces, as per NFL policy. The natural grass surface was tested throughout Super Bowl week and was in compliance with all mandatory NFL practices."
West Coast Turf was the company hired by the NFL out of Scottsdale to grow the Tahoma 31 Bermudagrass, developed at Oklahoma State University.
Tobey Wagner, the CEO for Sod Solutions and a direct competitor of West Coast Turf, defended the grass-growing company and grass itself.
"The natural color of Bermudagrass during the winter would be brown," Wagner says. "They had to put ryegrass in this mix to make it have that beautiful color."
Wagner says there was likely too much ryegrass, which holds more water. When the cleats break up the grass, water is released, which led to slipping.
