Not as close as previous years, though.
In conjunction with AT&T Park groundskeepers, Emerald Bowl officials have found a way to shift the football field roughly four feet farther from the left-field wall that had run just 3.5 feet from the back of the east end zone for the game's first seven years. The move, which now puts the back end line eight feet away from the wall, makes the field safer while also allowing room for a regulation, curved goal post instead of the more basic straight uprights (commonly found at high school fields) that had been used previously.
Emerald Bowl officials remember just one player running into the wall during the bowl's seven-game history, though they agreed the collision was somewhat theatric after a touchdown catch. No one's ever been hurt because of the proximity of the wall to the end zone, but this year's adjustment should be more out of harm's way and more like a normal football field for the Dec. 26 game.
Also, the dirt warning track that had run along the wall and into about half of the east end zone has been replaced with sod, making nearly the entire field pure grass (just a portion of the west end zone will be on the rubberized track material along the first-base line at AT&T Park).
The current east end zone back line, faintly seen after two United Football League games at the stadium, is just 3.5 feet from the left-field wall at AT&T Park, but groundskeepers will be shifting the field more than four feet farther away from the wall for the Emerald Bowl on Dec. 26.
