Who is the 'Sodfather'? Why Super Bowl 58 will end 57-year streak of Big Game groundskeeper

The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will lock horns at Super Bowl 58 on Sunday. The big game will commence at 6:30 p.m. ET at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

However, this will be the first Super Bowl without legendary Kansas City groundskeeper George Toma, also known as "Sodfather" or "The God of Sod."

Toma, 95, worked with the NFL to prepare every Super Bowl field from 1967 to 2023. However, he was criticized heavily after Super Bowl 2023 for fielding a slippery grass surface in Arizona. Hence, he will not monitor the field for the upcoming Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas.

Toma was born on Feb. 2, 1929, in Edwardsville, Pennsylvania. From a young age, he began working at Artillery Park in Wilkes-Barre, which was the home ground of the minor league baseball team Wilkes-Barre Barons.

Over the years, Toma worked his way to become a head groundskeeper. He also served in the military during the Korean War and upon returning to the US, he moved to Kansas City to continue his job as a groundskeeper.

Why was the grass slippery for Super Bowl 2023?

While speaking to reporters after the Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl 2023 in Arizona, Toma revealed that NFL field director Ed Mangan had overwatered the field and did not sand it enough to dry.

“I laid everything out for them. It’s the worst game-field I’ve ever seen before an NFL groundskeeper stepped on.” Toma said on the Glendale Stadium field for Super Bowl 2023.

“The two practice fields (were) the worst fields that I’ve seen — maybe not at the Super Bowls, but in the entire NFL. When we pulled it up after practice, it was mud. Retracted mud. And it was wet, wet, wet."

Is Super Bowl 2024 being played on grass?

Super Bowl 58 will be held at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas

The 2024 Super Bowl will be played at Allegiant Stadium, where the field is all natural grass. While the Kansas City Chiefs have been hosting their training sessions on the grass at the Las Vegas Raiders’ facility, the San Francisco 49ers have held practices on grass laid over a synthetic turf surface at the University of Nevada.

How to watch Super Bowl 58 on TV?

The Chiefs vs. 49ers Super Bowl 58 game will be broadcast live on CBS. There will also be an alternate broadcast of the matchup on Nickelodeon.