Week two of the rebooted XFL began on Saturday, and many around the football world are taking issue with the poor field conditions in a game between the D.C. Defenders and the Las Vegas Vipers.
The game is being held in Las Vegas at Cashman Field, and the field has had an extremely hard time holding up to the rain in the forecast.
This has directly impacted the play on the field. Vipers kicker Bailey Griffin has had some extreme struggles with the slickness of the field, missing both of his field goal attempts in large part due to the field conditions. His second attempt was particularly worrying, slipping on the field as he attempted the kick.
Many fans took notice of this and were understandably upset at these less-than-ideal field conditions.
I’ve played football in cow fields in better shape than the Vegas XFL field. https://t.co/u3o8MdCFso
— Derek Thomas (@DerekAdamThomas) February 26, 2023
It is certainly an odd choice for the XFL to put the Las Vegas Vipers at Cashman field in the first place. Cashman Field was not initially built as a football field, with its original purpose being a baseball stadium. It was the home of the Las Vegas Aviators, which are the minor league affiliate of the Oakland Athletics, from 1983-2018.
The stadium has now been repurposed for the XFL, but it appears that there is much more work to be done in the future to make this field a safe one for players on the field.
[The Comeback on Twitter] Photo Credit: FX
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.