CANTON: A capacity crowd of approximately 23,000 showed up Sunday night at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium to watch some football.
There were green-and-gold and blue-and-white-dressed spectators all over Canton. Green Bay Packers fans wore their No. 4 Brett Favre and No. 12 Aaron Rodgers jerseys. Indianapolis Colts fans wore No. 18 Peyton Manning and No. 12 Andrew Luck jerseys.
A host of other Packers and Colts players uniforms were also proudly being sported by their faithful, in addition to the occasional Browns and Steelers jerseys.
But instead of seeing the Packers and Colts play in the 2016 NFL preseason opener on a pleasant evening, the spectators heard hall of fame President David Baker apologize for paint on the synthetic surface that hardened and caused the game to be canceled.
“Ladies and gentlemen we know a lot of you came a long way,” Baker told the crowd at just after 8 p.m. “We have the greatest respect for players and the greatest respect for players safety. … There will be a full refund policy that will be announced tomorrow by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. We hope you will look at that and make full efforts to make yourself available to that.”
Fans booed as Baker spoke, but a lot of the spectators understood the decision.
“That’s a tough spot,” ESPN commentator Chris Berman said on TV. “Deep down, the fans get it. … This is their Super Bowl.”
There were chants of “Go Pack Go!” by Packers fans and the Colts cheerleaders danced to music as players from each side waved to fans in their jersey tops and shorts. Lee Greenwood also entertained the fans with a brief concert that was planned for halftime.
“As I understand it, and I’m not a paint expert so all of this has happened pretty quickly, but we are relying on experts here,” Baker said moments later in an impromptu interview with media on the field. “[The midfield and end zones] were painted earlier today and it kind of congealed in such a way that it rubberized and made it a little bit of an uneven surface.
“When I talked to Brett Favre earlier he said, ‘Huh, I would have played on this.’ And there are a lot of guys who would have played on this, but if one guy would have gotten hurt on this, it’s a difficult game enough without us making it more difficult.”
Packers and Colts players and coaches respected Baker’s decision and cited “players safety” as the most important aspect. Each team came onto the field with their coaches. Colts coach Chuck Pagano and Packers coach Mike McCarthy spoke to the crowd along with a couple of players from each team.
Baker said he was “embarrassed and extremely disappointed” with how the evening played out. He said moving forward the hall of fame “will bring in all of the experts we need to make this right.” He said the cancellation would cost the hall of fame about $4 million in lost revenue.
Favre, who was enshrined in the hall of fame on Saturday, described the cancellation as “unfortunate” and said he understood why the decision was made.
“I know had I been playing in this, I would have been disappointed,” Favre said. “There is no game, and I hate that for the young kids because some of those guys need this extra game. Obviously, the fans would have loved to have seen this. That’s unfortunate, but it has been a great week. We got in Thursday, and this was an amazing experience. The people of Canton, the parade, you name it, has just been outstanding. What a great celebration.”
Favre said he stepped on the midfield area where the hall of hame logo was painted and said, ‘I played on worse. I’ll put it that way. Most of the fields, the Vet [in Philadelphia], the Astrodome [in Houston], Solider Field [in Chicago], Lambeau Field [in Green Bay were not perfect] … but I understand. This is a preseason game.”
Favre and fellow hall of famer Tony Dungy interacted with players and spectators in the facility that is in the middle of a renovation. The Hall of Fame Village is being remodeled in eight phases to include a hotel, retail spaces and other amenities at a cost of $500 million.
“As a coach, you are always going to say ‘we want to play the game and entertain the fans and get it done,’ but you have to think safety,” Dungy said. “It is my understanding that’s what the issue was. It was a safety concern and I think both coaches felt with that being the case, they made the right decision.”
Michael Beaven can be reached at 330-996-3829 or mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the #ABJVarsity high school blog at www.ohio.com/preps. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MBeavenABJ.