Sideline TEMPERATURE Dolphins v Vikings

[Augie]

3 minutes ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

They should allow the visitors to erect temporary tents to shield players from the sun but they would probably block the view of premium ($) field level fans.

 

How unfortunate. I understand it’s a real issue, but they need to find away around this. We were creating some makeshift shade in the second half, but I forget exactly how they did that. There MUST be a better option than what they currently offer. 

[What a Tuel]

Just now, Augie said:

 

Top: Unfair and dangerous for the visitors.

 

Bottom: Fair, and equally dangerous for everyone. I still don’t love it for safety and competitive reasons. You can’t even see a teams best effort as they drop like flies in the heat. It’s why the World Cup in Qatar got moved out of the summer months. Even lousy FIFA knew that wouldn’t fly! 

 

Agree, but I bet during the years with the bottom one, Miami didn't dictate that opposing teams couldn't have misting benches and tents as they probably used them themselves or their players would revolt haha.

 

Fans however yeah that would surely suck to stand in for 4 hours, but at least they aren't exerting the physical activity of playing NFL football, and can walk into the concourse for some respite.

[Hsker4life]

57 minutes ago, Bandito said:

Ok? And the Bills have the snow to their advantage. Everyone has home field advantage in some way shape or form.

Both sides get snow. 

[NewEra]

58 minutes ago, Bandito said:

HA! And the Vikings won despite this. @Augie

Bills have only themselves to blame for losing in Miami

 

54 minutes ago, Bandito said:

Everyone was on here clamoring about this exact thing when the Bills lost in Miami. The Vikings faced practically the same temperature circumstance and won. Don't make excuses. Life isn't fair. @Warcodered

The Vikings won against Freddy Fidgewater and had multiple injuries, including all pro LT terron armstead.  
 

miami beat when we were completely decimated with injuries and to deal with the heat.  Our offense had 90 snaps- we just couldn’t finish and in the end, we ran out of gas due to the heat.  The Vikings didn’t have to make plays at the end, they were coasting

 

No one was saying the heat was the ONLY reason they won.  It was a combination of pre-game injuries, more injuries due exhaustion/injury due to heat, poor play in crucial situations (partly due to heat) and a few nice plays by the dolphins.

[LabattBlue]

They will never allow tents as that would block the view from the existing first few rows of seating.  The best other owners could hope for would be mandated 430 starts in Sept and 1st half of October. 

Edited October 17, 2022 by LabattBlue

[Shaw66]

52 minutes ago, Logic said:

I'm all for natural weather advantages, but the Dolphins stuff is getting to be over the top.

It is legitimately unsafe for athletes playing as hard as NFL players do to be sitting in 120-130 degree heat with full pads on.

At some point, someone's gonna die or have a serious medical episode due to the heat. It's beyond a fun little weather advantage at this point. It's dangerous.

I agree about the health issue.

 

Beyond that, that's not what a weather homefield advantage should be about.   A weather homefield advantage is that you're used to playing in the cold and your opponent is not, or you're used to playing in the heat and your opponent is not.   

 

The point about home field advantage is that everyone is playing on a level playing field, every is playing in the heat or the cold.  If you're team is more accustomed to playing in that weather, great, you have an advantage.   But it's not about playing a tipped playing field, where the weather on your side of the field is better than the weather on the other side of the field.  That is not a level playing field, and it shouldn't be allowed. 

 

I once concocted a purely hypothetical Cheatriot plot.  Bob Kraft had secretly hired a company with the right manufacturing skill and built a mechanism inside the goal post cross bar.   It extended or contracted the length of the cross bar.  Battery operated, remote control, silent.   It allowed the home team to make the goal posts a foot wider or a foot narrower than regulation.  It worked slowly.   So, every quarter they could adjust the goal posts so the Pats had wider goal posts and the opponent had narrower goal posts.  It worked quietly and so slowly that no one would notice it changing.  

 

That's a homefield advantage that is not a level playing field.   So is sitting in the shade while your opponent is in the sun.  

[Augie]

1 minute ago, What a Tuel said:

 

Agree, but I bet during the years with the bottom one, Miami didn't dictate that opposing teams couldn't have misting benches and tents as they probably used them themselves or their players would revolt haha.

 

Fans however yeah that would surely suck to stand in for 4 hours, but at least they aren't exerting the physical activity of playing NFL football, and can walk into the concourse for some respite.

 

Exactly. There is no way on earth the Dolphins would subject their own players to that physical abuse.  “Tents” are irrelevant if you are in the shade. This is pure BS. 

[Royale with Cheese]

59 minutes ago, Bandito said:

Ok? And the Bills have the snow to their advantage. Everyone has home field advantage in some way shape or form.

 

How do the Bills only have the snow falling on one sideline?  

 

Also, how many players wouldn't be able to finish a game because they have cold exhaustion?  

[Meatloaf63]

1 hour ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

Dopey, NFL rules mandate if one side got heaters or for the matter coolers/fans, other side gets equal access to same  but they positioned the field in Miami so the Dolphins get natural shade and the visitors dont.

 

Every game in Miami in Sept and October should start at 4 if not a night game.

Nobody talks about the reflective vinyl mat they put down that reflects the sun and heat and probably raises the temp by at least 10 degrees. If I had a team playing there I would give my staff knives to cut that up and remove it. IT’s Miami, you can’t grow grass there year round? It’s done to exasperate the situation and should not be allowed.

[BuffaloBill]

1 hour ago, Logic said:

I'm all for natural weather advantages, but the Dolphins stuff is getting to be over the top.

It is legitimately unsafe for athletes playing as hard as NFL players do to be sitting in 120-130 degree heat with full pads on.

At some point, someone's gonna die or have a serious medical episode due to the heat. It's beyond a fun little weather advantage at this point. It's dangerous.

 

 

This^^^^ 

 

Players have a chance to protect themselves from the cold.  Extreme heat is a different story.

[pennstate10]

33 minutes ago, BillsFanSD said:

Do we actually know for sure that that temperature reading is accurate?  I don't know that human beings -- even NFL athletes -- are capable of doing anything in 120 degree weather.  I have five marathons under my belt (none terribly recent -- I'm past my racing days) and I wouldn't bother going out for even a short run in those conditions.  Neither would any other serious runner.  

 

My money is on "broken thermometer."

How much did you end up losing?

 

I've seen plenty of measurements on various fields--esp artificial turf -- where temps on the field are routinely 130F in summertime.  I have no reason to doubt 120F.

[HereComesTheReignAgain]

The Bills should put a giant magnifying glass roof section over the visitor bench. It will create an area that instantly burns players like ants on the sidewalk.

[Victory Formation]

This is very, very dangerous. If someone gets hurt they could get sued.

[TheFunPolice]

many others have said it, and I agree... homefield advantage still has both teams playing in the wind, snow, cold, etc. 

 

This is straight up doing everything they can to make the opposing sideline hotter so that both teams are not playing in the same conditions, and that type of temperature is dangerous for football players to be in all day long. Something very bad will happen eventually. 

 

 

[Matt_In_NH]

The Bills game was exceptional because of 63 plays and over 40 minutes of possession.  Only reason this is suddenly a "thing"

[Niagara Dude]

2 hours ago, DallasBillsFan1 said:

 

League needs to correct this for safety protection,  they should insist the Dolphins provide visiting team tent overhead shade coverage. That is basically why they beat us and teams need to complain.  It's a multi billion dollar sport,  I am sure they can construct movable  benches with overhead coverage. You beat teams because of talent and fans screaming not your opponent passing out from the heat 

Edited October 17, 2022 by Niagara Dude

[NoSaint]

58 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

They will never allow tents as that would block the view from the existing first few rows of seating.  The best other owners could hope for would be mandated 430 starts in Sept and 1st half of October. 

tents are allowed if the home team opts to use them 

 

the home team created structural shade to leave the visitors baking. It’s a silly line in the sand 

[frostbitmic]

Pretty simple fix for the situation in September and October. The schedule maker schedules them with 4 home games those two months.

 

1. Thursday Night Football

2. Sunday Night Football

3. Monday Night Football

4. A Sunday 9:00 AM game... same time as the London games.

 

Then they can go away for the second half of the season.

[Niagara Dude]

4 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

tents are allowed if the home team opts to use them 

 

the home team created structural shade to leave the visitors baking. It’s a silly line in the sand 

Then you take first few rows out,   What is that couple hundred seats gone.  TOO BAD,  DOLPHINS are becoming the new Patriots

[Peter]

Some of you know that I live in Miami. I also have Miami Hurricane season tickets. 

 

A couple of observations:

 

1) I recall that Dolphin games in September used to be mostly at 4:00 pm, night games, or on the road. Somewhere along the line, this changed - I think with Steve Ross who presumably wanted to create a more pronounced advantage. I got in a Twitter argument about this with Dolphin fans after they barely beat us earlier this season. I did some research and ended up taking a look at the Dolphins' schedule from 1970 through 1989.

 

Guess what? During that entire time, only 6.3% of Dolphin games before the last week of September were 1:00 pm home games. The rest (93.7%) were 4:00 pm games, night home games, or away games.

 

The easy solution is to make sure that early regular season Dolphin games should be later in the day or on the road.

 

2) When they reconfigured Hard Rock Stadium, I had the opportunity to choose between the following for my Hurricane season tickets:

 

a) 50 yard line in the lower bowl on the sunny side of the stadium (visitors' side - the side the Bills are on); or

 

b) 30 yard line seats in the lower bowl on the home side (Hurricanes and Dolphins side of Hard Rock Stadium)

 

Guess which side I chose . . . .

 

30 yard line on the home side. The sunny/vistors' side is miserable in September - even wearing shorts and a t-shirt in the stands. I cannot imagine playing in pads - let alone being a 300 pound+ linemen playing with pads.

 

One day, there is going to be a Korey Stringer type of event at that stadium (heat stroke or death). The NFL will have no one but themselves to blame.

 

P.S. This has little to do with winning or losing the game earlier this year. In fact, Dolphin players were having issues in the heat as well as Bills players from South Florida. This has everything to do with player safety. It is so unnecessary and can be easily resolved.