Here is the full transcript of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay's reaction to the Hall of Fame game being canceled because of field conditions:
Obviously, we're disappointed that the field is not in condition to be played today. We're going to thoroughly look at what occurred to make this not happen. Earlier in the day, both the league and Players Association looked at the field and viewed it playable, and it was fine. Then there was some painting that occurred that was [a] very unusual situation. So we're going to vet it through, and we certainly going to look [at it].
We're disappointed, obviously, and we know a lot of people came out for the game, so we're going to make sure we take care of all the fans that planned to be here and that sort of thing.
It's a very unusual situation. It's something that shouldn't have occurred. We're disappointed, but at the same time, being in the league for almost a half a century, I've seen some of these things occur before. It's unusual, obviously, and we're going to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Does it put a damper on the weekend? Not at all. I mean, it's been special. And obviously, we're disappointed. This is the first game. This is not our team right now taking the field for 2016. It started the season off, this game. Everyone knows that. There was a lot of anticipation in that NFL football is back. It doesn't put a damper at all on Tony [Dungy] and Marvin [Harrison], Orlando [Pace] and all the guys that got in.
Was player safety the priority? No question. We've been out on fields before -- I won't name the stadiums -- that were a little questionable. Fields that were taken away for other events and fields that got put down. We looked at some areas and said, 'Hey, this field is a little rough ...' Grass fields were getting that way. This isn't unprecedented. The unusual thing about it is that it was looking like it was good to play, then the paint job that got put down led to a very unusual, sort of toxic situation that we didn't want to take a risk on.
You know where we are as a league with player safety. Obviously, that's something that's a No. 1 focus. It's something that it was the right thing to do. We're disappointed, but we're going to make it right, and we're looking forward to a great season.
How do you make it right? I don't have details yet, but obviously, fans came down. They were excited about the game. They traveled, they got hotels and all that sort of thing. As owners, we're going to meet and talk. We're going to make sure that fans are taken care of. We're disappointed, obviously. All 32 of us owners ultimately are responsible and obviously the commissioner as well. He is the guy we look to for leadership, but in this case, the Hall of Fame is a little bit separate.
But we're still responsible for it as owners. We're disappointed. Obviously, as a league, you're expected to make sure the field is good to go.
I was very surprised and disappointed, but we are going to make it right, and we're going to have a positive night and finish off the celebration for Marvin and Tony. It doesn't put any damper on that.
When did you find out the game was off? We were trying to see if we could get the field good to play with about two hours before the game. Even up to almost 90 minutes, we were hoping that a wash-down and a certain attempt to make it right could be found. In the end, we found that we weren't able to do that with the time crunch that we have. Obviously, we didn't want to delay the game for hours or anything like that.
This has occurred before. People have come off the field in baseball. I'm reminded even in football, we had the lights go out before in stadiums. They've left the field and come back. This isn't unprecedented, but it is unusual. We're disappointed.
