In response to the wildfires that are ongoing around the Los Angeles area, Monday's wild-card playoff matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams is being moved to Arizona, the league announced in a statement on Thursday evening. Specifically, the game will be held in Glendale at State Farm Stadium, the home of the Arizona Cardinals.
"In the interest of public safety, Monday's Vikings-Rams Wild Card game has been moved from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA to State Farm Stadium, the home of the Arizona Cardinals," the league's statement reads. "The decision was made in consultation with public officials, the participating clubs, and the NFLPA."
The announcement adds that the game will be played at its previously scheduled time of 8 p.m. ET and will air on ESPN and ABC. Meanwhile, tickets are slated to go on sale at 10 a.m. local time (1 p.m. ET) on Friday morning through SeatGeek.com for Rams season ticket holders and will be released to the general public at noon local time (3 p.m. ET).
Monday's playoff matchup was slated to be held at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, but the fires that have engulfed Los Angeles County and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes now has the NFL pivoting to a safer location.
On Friday, Rams team president Kevin Demoff explained why the decision was made to switch locations.
"Yesterday [Thursday], shortly before the Kenneth fire, we had a conversation with local public safety officials and they began to express doubt about whether they could adequately staff the game, and not only that but it went into, you could hear the pain, the struggle in their voices," Demoff said. "And it was pretty clear that the right thing to do was to not play the game [here]. That was before we went to practice and had players evacuated because of the Kenneth fire and the flareup that we could all see."
Shortly after that, the Rams informed the NFL it was their recommendation the game should be moved to a different location. One factor that went into the team's decision was the fact that the 500 rooms previously being held for the Vikings and NFL officials can now be used for evacuees of the wildfires.
"It's heartbreaking for our fans, for our players," Demoff said. "Our players earned a home playoff game. ... But this situation merits that we play that somewhere else. It doesn't take away from what they earned, it doesn't take away from the amazing season that we've had."
Another factor in the game moving was the possibility of the wildfires endangering anyone attending, working or playing at SoFi Stadium if the game was played as scheduled.
"It's just a recognition that some things are better than football," Demoff said, "and we owe this to our community to make sure that this game can be played safety and not be a distraction. ... It was just not the right place to be holding a game."
While the NFL has moved games in the past due to extreme weather, this is unprecedented for the playoffs. According to CBS Research, this will be the first non-Super Bowl postseason game played at a neutral site in the Super Bowl era.
