The Raiders' trip to Canada is not going well. They gave away a preseason home game to play the Green Bay Packers in Winnipeg and, let's be honest, decrease the rent owed to Oakland Coliseum.
The exhibition has been compromised by concerns over the artificial playing surface at IG Field, host to a CFL team and a professional soccer club. Most notably, by a hole in one of the end zones.
Canadian football is played on different field dimensions, so the place where CFL goal posts are set land right in the middle of an NFL end zone.
Officials grew concerned about the issue, and after an attempt to remedy the issue and a several discussions between Raiders and Packers officials, the teams decided to play on an 80-yard field. Officials put pylons on the 10-yard line to mark the start of the end zone.
Yeah, you read that right.
It was a solution decided just before the proposed 5 p.m. Thursday kickoff, one made to salvage the experience for a market new to NFL football and get some work in just a few weeks before the regular season begins.
The Raiders weren't expected to play their frontline starters before all this. The Packers pulled all of their impact starters, including quarterback Aaron Rodgers and receiver Davante Adams.
