Bengals were reportedly upset with condition of Dayton practice field

We might not be seeing the Bengals back in Dayton anytime soon.

The Bengals opened training camp at Welcome Stadium in Dayton on Saturday, but the lasting image will be A.J. Green suffering what looked like a significant injury that led to him being carted off the field.

Apparently, Bengals coaches were concerned with the field and it’s condition, according to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated.

To celebrate the NFL’s 100th season, the NFL decided to honor Dayton as one of its 13 Original Towns by partnering with the Bengals to host their first training camp practice. The first-ever NFL game was played in Dayton in 1920, featuring the Dayton Triangles and Columbus Panhandles — two of the League’s original 14 teams.

The idea of having a camp practice in Dayton seemed like a great idea at the time, but the NFL had initially planned for the Bengals to practice on a different field, one that would have likely been more up to standard, as Breer writes:

The league initially wanted the practice to be at Triangle Park, site of the first NFL game, and planned to build a $440,000 field there for the Bengals to work on. But a Native American group raised concerns it was on an old burial ground and, after a site survey, that plan was scrapped.

The NFL still wanted to follow through with the plan to practice in Dayton, and so the Bengals cleared the idea of going to the University of Dayton’s home stadium.

But after working there for an hour on Saturday, several Bengals staffers were frustrated that Green’s injury happened on a field that they saw as subpar. One mentioned that players were sliding all over the place during what was a shorter-than-usual camp practice. Another saw pebbles lodged into the turf.

It’s an unfortunate situation, especially since it may have helped lead to a key player suffering an injury, even though it sounds like Green shouldn’t be out too long.