Schlereth: Despite paint gaffe, Americans ‘addicted to NFL’

The NFL muffed it’s 2016 season kickoff Sunday night, cancelling the annual Hall of Fame Game due to unsafe surface conditions created by hardened paint at midfield and in the end zones.

The flub is no doubt an embarrassment to the league, with the preseason tilt between the Green Bay Packers and the Indianapolis Colts starting off a string of football weekends that won’t cease until after Super Bowl Sunday.

But, will this blunder be forgotten as quickly as it arose? Or will the NFL feel the wrath of fans, much like the MLB, NBA or NHL would, given similar circumstances?

“It’s just one continuous “Gong Show,” and yet they’re coated in Teflon. It doesn’t matter. People can’t get enough,” Mike Evans, co-host of “Schlereth and Evans” said Monday morning.

Colts owner Jim Irsay expressed his disappointment about the situation following the game’s postponement Sunday, but said it’s not something the NFL hasn’t seen before.

It’s a very unusual situation. It’s something that shouldn’t have occurred,” Irsay said. “We’re disappointed, but at the same time, being in the league for almost a half a century, I’ve seen some of these things occur before. It’s unusual, obviously, and we’re going to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

But Evans’ co-host Mark Schlereth, former Denver Broncos offensive lineman and ESPN NFL analyst, said it’s not so much about cancelling the game –– many praised, including the NFL Players Association, the decision to put player safety at the forefront –– but that the NFL, with its abundant resources, didn’t ensure the game would go off without a hitch.

“Why would you have not tested said new paint, if that’s the direction you’re going in, before you actually play, oh I don’t know, the kickoff of the NFL season in your stadium,” Schlereth said. “It makes zero sense to me that is what transpired.”

But, both Evans and Schlereth agreed, it’s likely the NFL will slide again and move on past this embarrassing situation.

“(The NFL) does seem to be Teflon. America is addicted to it,” Schlereth said. “I don’t know what it’s going to take for all of a sudden America to be fed up with the league.”

The game’s cancellation will likely hit the not-for-profit Hall of Fame’s wallet to the tune of $4 million, Hall of Fame President David Baker told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

David Baker, president of HOF, said fans will be refunded their money.

There will be a ceremony tonight with players and new HOF players.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 7, 2016

The paint had been re-applied the day of the game due to the Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony occupying the playing surface Saturday evening, Baker said.

Follow 104.3 The Fan digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.