Good riddance

Players vote Veterans Stadium as worst field

Turf Wars The worst playing fields, as voted by the NFL Players Association: No.  Team  Stadium  1.  Philadelphia  Veterans Stadium  2.  Giants-Jets  Giants Stadium  3.  Cincinnati  Paul Brown Stadium  4.  Minnesota  Metrodome  5.  New Orleans  Superdome  6.  Dallas  Texas Stadium  7.  Buffalo  Ralph Wilson  8.  Oakland  Network Associates  9.  Pittsburgh  Heinz Field  10.  San Diego  Qualcomm Stadium  11.  Indianapolis  RCA Dome  12.  Atlanta  Georgia Dome  13.  Miami  Pro Player Stadium  14.  St. Louis  Edward Jones Dome  15.  Chicago  Memorial Stadium  16.  Green Bay  Lambeau Field  17.  San Francisco  Candlestick Park  18.  Carolina  Ericsson Stadium  19.  Baltimore  Ravens Stadium  20.  Detroit  Ford Field  21.  New England  Gillette Stadium  22.  Kansas City  Arrowhead Stadium  23.  Houston  Reliant Stadium  24.  Arizona  Sun Devil Stadium  25t.  Seattle  Seahawks Stadium  25t.  Tennessee  Coliseum  27t.  Cleveland  Browns Stadium  27t.  Tampa Bay  Raymond James  29.  Denver  Invesco Field  30.  Jacksonville  Alltell Stadium  31.  Washington  FedEx Field

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- There's no way the turf at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia can get any worse.

Only because it won't be around next season.

The NFL Players Association released its biennial ranking of NFL playing surfaces Thursday. And surprise: The Vet ranked worst in the league once more, giving it a clean sweep of the worst spot since the survey began in 1994.

"It's true," NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw said. "It's a horrible field. Just awful."

The stadium known for hastening the end of many careers -- Wendell Davis, George Teague and Michael Irvin, to name a few -- has hosted its last NFL game.

Much to the rejoicing of players around the league, it will be demolished after baseball season and replaced by a new stadium in nearby South Philly.

As former Eagles linebacker Bill Bergey put it, "It's a dump, it's a toilet and the field is horrible, but it was our field, our dump and our toilet."

With the Vet gone, Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. becomes the next NFLPA target. The home of the Giants and Jets ranked second on the worst-fields list, even though it has natural turf.

In fact, five of the 10 worst fields were natural surfaces. Ranked 10th worst was Qualcomm Stadium, the field where the Super Bowl takes place Sunday.

"This survey demonstrates that a grass surface alone is no guarantee of excellence," Upshaw said.

The grass field in Cincinnati, a horribly torn-up surface, especially in the winter, was third worst. Artificial surfaces in Minnesota and New Orleans rounded out the bottom five.

"I remember there was a preseason game in Minnesota and the players were calling me, they were so upset," Upshaw said. "They were just dropping all over the place."

Raymond James Stadium in Tampa ranked first on the list of best surfaces. It was followed by Arizona, Seattle, Carolina and Jacksonville.

Seahawks Stadium uses FieldTurf, a new artificial turf set on a base of sand and rubber. Detroit's Ford Field, which uses the same surface, was rated 11th on the list of best fields.

More than 1,300 players filled out the extensive surveys. Among the other findings were that 88.8 percent of players preferred playing on grass over artificial surfaces, and 57.9 percent said they suffered one or more injuries on turf that they don't believe they would have occurred on grass.

 

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