close
close

Surprise hail storm forces Cardinals to close roof during Bears game – New York Post

Surprise hail storm forces Cardinals to close roof during Bears game – New York Post

Mother Nature is known to wreak havoc during the NFL season, but the Cardinals and Bears were in for a surprise Sunday at State Farm Stadium.

The teams were cheered during the second quarter of the NFC clash in Glendale, Arizona, forcing the stadium’s roof to be closed midway through the game.

The afternoon game started with an open roof as the sun was out, but a surprise storm rolled into the area bringing rain and hail which started to fall midway through the game.

The Cardinals had to close the roof at State Farm Stadium after hail began to fall on November 3, 2024. Getty Images
Rain and hail fall at State Farm Stadium during the first half of an NFL football game between the Chicago Bears and the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) CBS

The CBS broadcast made a lot of mention of the time the storm clouds opened up and the freak situation led to the roof being closed, which the show said would take 10 minutes.

“It’s not just rain guys, we’ve got hail. It’s a really weird feeling because of the way it’s designed,” Evan Washburn said during the show. “Only the field is really affected, but you can see little white pellets. It’s hail here in Glendale.

The roof closure process was finally completed at the end of the second quarter.

The game became the first NFL game to ever have a retractable stadium roof closed mid-contest, according to footballzebras.com.

The outlet also pointed out that for a stadium to close its roof in the middle of an NFL game, the decision can only be made by the referee in coordination with football operations.

Strangely, another stadium in Arizona with a retractable roof had a problem.

Rain and hail fall at State Farm Stadium during the first half of an NFL football game between the Chicago Bears and the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. AP

Earlier this year, the Diamondbacks had to cancel a spring training game at Chase Field due to rain inside the stadium.

Chase Field does have a retractable roof, but due to a cable issue, they are unable to close the roof with fans inside the stadium, 12News reported.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *