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The playing surface at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City has been deemed “a mess” and the safety of the players is a significant enough concern that the league had already considered a venue change, ESPN reported this morning.
“We are working closely with the field manager at Azteca Stadium and others to ensure that we have an NFL-quality surface for our game, and we are looking forward to kicking off in Mexico City on Monday night,” said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy .
Two recent events apparently damaged the hybrid playing surface, a combination of grass and synthetic filler. The stadium hosted a large music concert on Nov. 7 and a soccer match on Saturday .
Images surfaced on social media Tuesday showing what appeared to be new sod being laid down on the field.
It wasn’t immediately clear when the league would announce a final decision, although ESPN reported that NFL officials were expected to meet at the stadium on Tuesday to review the surface .
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According to NFL rules, the home team in an international game — in this case, Los Angeles — had to keep its home stadium available in the event the contest has to be moved.
ESPN reported Tuesday that several members of each team said they would sit out the game if the field was not up to standards. The report added some players wanted the decision made to move the game to the Coliseum in Los Angeles.
Yahoo reported players from both teams requested involvement from the NFL Players Association regarding the field conditions, asking that the union inspect the field to determine if it was safe to play on.
However, at 3:52 PM, the NFL tweeted that the game would be moved from Mexico City to the city of Los Angeles.
Later in the day, the Azteca Stadium issued a statement through social media apologizing to Mexican NFL fans for the inconvenience.
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