The ‘Sodfather’ Speaks: Legendary Groundskeeper ‘Finished’ with the NFL After Terrible Management of Super Bowl Field

George Toma, known as the “Sodfather” in NFL circles, has cared for NFL fields for nearly 80 years. But, he is “finished” with the league after the league’s ignored his advice and produced one of the worst playing surfaces in history during last month’s Super Bowl.

Toma, 94, who has led or had a hand in leading the preparation for every Super Bowl field, called it quits after seeing players slip and slide all over the field during Super Bowl LVII.

“I can’t take it anymore,” the 94-year-old Toma told ESPN, adding that he hasn’t been happy with how the NFL responded to field issues at Super Bowl sites in the past.

“Me and the league are finished,” Toma told ESPN. “They can’t tell me what to do anymore. We’re done.”

Specifically, Toma charges the league with overwatering the playing surface on the Wednesday before the Super Bowl and then moving the grass back into the stadium and depriving the grass of much-needed sunlight for four days before the game.

“So, what he does,” Toma said in reference to Ed Mangan, the man who worked under Toma for years and led the field prep for this year’s Super Bowl, “he waters the hell out of it and puts it right into the stadium and that’s it. Never sees sunlight again. He can’t do that.”

Toma wasn’t done with his criticism of Mangan. He also charged his former understudy with failing to sand the field properly.

“He sanded it two weeks too late,” Toma said. “He had only one sanding. He should have had two or three sandings, but he didn’t do sh*t. And that was it. And not only that, he didn’t take care of it. He wouldn’t listen to anybody.”

Toma argues that the field should have been watered the day of the game and then allowed to dry in the sun before being transported back into the stadium on its 403-foot moving tray.

Toma added that he was informed during Super Bowl week that the field’s rye grass had begun to rot. Though, Tomadid not fault the rye grass for this. The longtime groundskeeper told ESPN he had used rye grass in 27 Super Bowls and not encountered a decay or rotting issue.

One of the most telling examples of the field’s slippery playing surface was when Philadelphia’s Jake Elliott slipped on a kickoff.

There were plenty of complaints from players as well.

Kansas City defensive lineman Frank Clark added that this is not the first time they’ve had problems with grass in Arizona.

“We’ve had this problem in Arizona before. A lot of these stadiums try to do new tactics with the grass, they try to do new things. I’ve been playing football since I was seven. The best grass is grass that is naturally there,” he said. “At the end of the day, it was the field that we were given.”