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Jon Gruden blasts 'bizarre' visiting locker room, weather delay at roofed SoFi Stadium

SoFi Stadium is the crown jewel of modern NFL arenas, a state-of-the-art marvel with nods to Inglewood's glamorous pro sports roots that plays host to both of the league's Los Angeles franchises.

Consider Jon Gruden unimpressed.

The Las Vegas Raiders head coach left SoFi with a bad taste in his mouth on Monday, and it wasn't just because of his team's 28-14 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Gruden, whose Raiders play in another one of the league's cutting-edge palaces, left multiple entries for the SoFi suggestion box on his way out of town.

Take for instance, the weather delay. Monday's kickoff was delayed 35 minutes thanks to a lightning storm and downpour that swept over Los Angeles Monday evening. Weather delays are rare in the NFL, but lightning usually does the trick. You just don't expect it to impact a game in a stadium with a roof.

Jon Gruden
Jon Gruden's second trip to SoFi Stadium didn't go well. (Chris Unger/Getty Images/file) (Chris Unger via Getty Images)

Gruden thought lightning delay 'was a joke'

Yes, in the most Los Angeles of weather-related sports stories, an NFL game under a roof got pushed back thanks to a storm. While SoFi has a roof, it's considered open air thanks to exposed walls intended to take advantage of the normally temperate SoCal climate, hence the lightning delay. Gruden thought the delay was "a joke."

“I am not an engineer. I have no idea," Gruden told reporters after the game. "I have never heard that. I thought it was a joke. It affected both teams."

Here's Gruden learning of the delay, which was announced close to kickoff and impacted both teams' warmups and pregame routines.

As for the visiting locker room his Raiders were sent to during the delay. Gruden has suggestions there too.

“The locker room here is the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen," Gruden said. "I mean you can’t see anybody. It’s like a maze. Whoever contorted this visiting locker room, I’d like to meet this guy, see what his idea was."

Monday wasn't Gruden's first trip to SoFi. His Raiders visited last year, albeit during a muted experience without fans because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Maybe he's been stewing on his locker-room take for the better part of a year. He didn't issue the complaint in 2020.

It probably helped last year that his Raiders came away from SoFi with a win.