CANTON, Ohio – Well, so much for five preseason games.
Poor field conditions cancelled the Colts' preseason opener scheduled for Sunday night.
The NFL and NFLPA released the following joint statement regarding the cancellation of the NFL's start to the preseason
"Due to safety concerns with the condition of the playing surface in Canton, tonight's game between the Indianapolis Colts and Green Bay Packers has been cancelled. We are very disappointed for our fans, but player safety is our primary concern, and as a result, we could not play an NFL game on this field tonight."
The Colts and Packers were supposed to begin the NFL preseason with an 8:00 p.m. kickoff on Sunday, but field conditions started being questioned hours before kickoff.
Jim Irsay met the media after the decision was made about a half hour before the game was supposed to begin.
"What occurred to make this not happen earlier in the day, both the league and players association looked at the field and deemed it playable," Irsay said. "Then there was some painting that occurred that was a very unusual situation.
"With about two hours before the game, up to almost 90 minutes before the game, we were hoping that a wash down and a certain attempt to make it right. In the end, we found out that we weren't able to do that with the time crunch we had."
On Saturday night, the field hosted the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Issues with paint on the midfield logo deemed the turf-playing surface unplayable.
"It's something that should not have occurred," Irsay said, "but at the same time for being in the league for half a century it's unusual for sure, but we are going to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Sunday's Hall of Fame game was supposed to be the conclusion of the enshrinement weekend for the Class of 2016, which includes former Colts Tony Dungy and Marvin Harrison.
With plenty of fans from the Colts and Packers in attendance Sunday night, Irsay assured the fans would be compensated.
"We know a lot of people came out for the game, so we are going to make sure we take care of all the fans that planned to be here," Irsay said. "As owners, we are going to meet and talk and we are going to make sure that fans are taken care of. All 32 of our owners are responsible and the commissioner as well. He is the guy that we look to for leadership. But in this case the Hall of Fame is a little bit separate.
"As a league, you are expected to make sure the field is good to go so I was very surprised, but we are going to make it a positive night and finish out the weekend for Marvin and Tony."
With the game cancelled, the NFL and Pro Football Hall of Fame still held activities for those inside of Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
Both teams came out onto the field, with Chuck Pagano, Dwayne Allen and Mike Adams addressing the crowd on the Colts' behalf.
Dungy and Harrison, along with the other '16 inductees, were recognized.
The Colts Cheerleaders and Lee Greenwood both had respective performances.
The 2016 preseason for the Colts will now get underway this coming Saturday night in Buffalo.
Before Sunday night, the Colts were scheduled to head back to Anderson to finish Training Camp on Tuesday.
Afternoon practices were scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. A final practice on Thursday morning was supposed to mark the end of camp in Anderson.
It remains to be seen if the schedule will remain the same.
Stay tuned to Colts.com for an updated camp schedule.
