Getty Image / Carmen Mandato
George Toma, aka ‘The Sodfather‘, is finally admitting the Super Bowl LVII field in Arizona was overrated and could have been corrected.
One of the biggest storylines during Super Bowl LVII in Arizona was the state of the field. Leading up to the Big Game, so much was being made about the preparations that went into getting the field ready. Then as the game unfolded it was evident something was very, very wrong.
An investigation determined the water-laden field adversely affected the Eagles more than the Chiefs. Mic’d up players could be heard complaining about the conditions.
And now, weeks later, The Sodfather is telling his side of the story to ESPN.
The Sodfather told ESPN the field was “watered the Wednesday morning before the game and promptly rolled into the stadium on the moveable tray that housed the grass field for the last time before kickoff four days later.”
In order to have prevented the soaked field catastrophe, he believes they should have “watered in the morning and kept outside to dry before being rolled in.” Simple as that.
Toma blamed the NFL’s field director, Ed Mangan, who worked for Toma for years. Saying “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”
In addition to the field being overwatered it also apparently had a rotten smell. Toma says this was because they tarped the field during warmups to prevent any damage.
He told ESPN “A tarp was laid over the field to protect it from the rehearsals for the pregame, halftime and postgame shows, Toma said, and that led to the field emitting an odor. Toma said he was told during the week that the field was starting to decay and rot.”
The Sodfather also believes they massed up the sand ratio. Saying it was “sanded two weeks too late” and the field was only sanded once.
He contends the Super Bowl field should’ve been sanded 2-3 times, not just once.
The Sodfather continued to throw Ed Mangan under the bus. He told ESPN that Mangan “wouldn’t listen to anybody.”
This entire debacle was enough to drive The Sodfather away from the NFL forever, he says. George Toma told ESPN “Me and the league are finished. They can’t tell me what to do anymore. We’re done.”
It’s hard not to sympathize with the 94-year-old a little bit. He lays out concrete examples of how the soaked field could have been avoided and doesn’t mince words when assigning blame.
Yet it was ‘The Sodfather’ whose name was dragged through the mud in the aftermath of the Super Bowl. Many people never one heard the name ‘Ed Mangan’ until now. But that’s who Toma believes was responsible for this.