NEW YORK -- The Baltimore-Philadelphia preseason game was
officially canceled Tuesday, a day after it was postponed
because of an unplayable field at Veterans Stadium.
The decision was made by NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue after a
conference call with owner Jeff Lurie and president Joe Banner of
the Eagles and president David Modell of the Ravens.
The game was called off after officials, coaches and players
from both teams thought uneven cutouts in the field could affect
players' footing.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the schedule provided little room
for rescheduling the game, the first preseason contest for both.
Each has a game this Saturday and again next Thursday.
Schedules are also affected by schedules for the two baseball
teams from the cities -- the Phillies share the stadium with the
Eagles and the Ravens are next door to the Orioles' Camden Yards.
Thousands of fans left hanging continued to seek
refunds Wednesday.
Roughly 58,000 season-ticket holders who bought directly from
the Eagles will automatically get refund checks in the mail, even
if they didn't plan to attend the game.
But those who bought single-game tickets from friends, scalpers
or independent ticket agents may be in for a tougher time.
Those who bought their seats through Ticketmaster, either on the
Internet or by phone, are only eligible for a partial refund. They
can receive a credit equal to the ticket's face value, but must
give up the agency's per-seat handling fee, plus any
special-delivery costs.
The regund policy of ticket brokers may also vary.
Spectators who bought from scalpers are out-of-luck entirely.
The company that makes and installs the NeXturf field surface at
Veterans Stadium is blaming the city -- not its product -- for the
cancelation.
Troy Squires, a spokesman for NeXturf manufacturer Southwest
Recreation Industries, said the company is in charge of maintaining
the turf, not what lies beneath it.
"We had all we could handle doing our own job. We couldn't also
do the job of others," he said. "There is nothing wrong with the
turf. It was basically that the stuff under the turf was mushy."
Representatives of the Eagles, the NFL, the city and Southwest
met throughout the day to talk about solutions to the problem.
An engineering report, prepared by an inspection team that
surveyed the field Tuesday, was expected to by in the city's hands
by late Wednesday. Its findings were not immediately available.
Southwest said it has come up with some "minor" adjustments to
the turf-laying procedure to prevent future problems.
Mayor John Street, speaking to reporters, said he was confident
the turf will be usable for future games. He defended the decision
not to play the game.
"I don't think we made the wrong call. The conversion, under
those circumstances, was difficult," he said.
Eagles spokesman Ron Howard said the team had no good estimate
on how many fans were seeking refunds, outside of season-ticket
holders.
He was also unable to say how many had already gotten their
money back through the Eagles box office, although there were no
lines outside the stadium Wednesday.
The team expects the cancelation to cost between $5 million and
$10 million.
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