The NFL announced Thursday night that Monday’s wild-card playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams will be moved to Arizona, a decision made “in the interest of public safety” as wildfires continue in Southern California. said it was done.
The game was originally scheduled to be held at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., on Monday at 8 p.m. Games will now be played at the same time on Mondays at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, home of the Arizona Cardinals.
The league announced earlier this week that Arizona would be the contingency plan if Monday’s game was rescheduled. The association said in a statement Thursday that the decision to press ahead with the move came after “consultation with public officials, participating clubs and the NFLPA.”
Hours earlier, another fire broke out several miles from the Rams’ training facility in the Woodland Hills area, causing the team to cancel scheduled player media availability.
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Another Los Angeles-based team in the league, the Chargers, is also preparing for a playoff game this weekend, playing on the road against the Houston Texans on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Both the Rams and Chargers practiced outdoors on Thursday.
With smoke visible from the field at the Rams’ team facility and players, coaches and staff affected by the fire, manager Sean McVay said, “Fortunately, to my knowledge, there are no injuries.” We are grateful for that.” ”
The Chargers held their final practice for Saturday’s game. The site of the facility in El Segundo was a dystopia. The sky was burnt orange, the field was littered with ash, and many players were wearing masks, including outside linebacker Khalil Mack, tackle Joe Alt and quarterback Taylor Heinicke.
The Chargers do not have an indoor practice facility. Coach Jim Harbaugh said the players were outside for about 45 minutes, half the typical outdoor practice time, as the practice was modified based on suggestions from “experts.” Harbaugh said he’s not thinking about flying to Houston early and practicing there.
“Our players did a great job of improvising and adjusting,” he said. “And really, we were able to get as close as possible to what a normal practice would be like.”
Harbaugh also said his daughter Grace was evacuated from her Hollywood-area home Wednesday night and is staying with Harbaugh.
Outside linebacker Joey Bosa, who lives near the evacuation zone, said his fiance and dog went to Houston early. Botha said she went to bed Wednesday night with her phone notifications blaring loudly in case she had to evacuate.
“I hope that when I get back to Los Angeles, I’ll have a home to go to,” Bosa said.
Before the NFL announced the venue change for Monday’s game, Vikings defensive lineman Harrison Phillips, NFLPA player representative, announced that the league would play the game in Los Angeles and that the NBA would postpone the game. He said that we should be conscious of thinking about things in parallel. A game between the Lakers and Charlotte Hornets is scheduled for Thursday night in downtown Los Angeles. Phillips pointed out that the Lakers play in an indoor facility and SoFi is an outdoor stadium.
“If a hurricane hits a particular location, or a tornado hits and destroys a community, you have to pay close attention to your optics,” he said. “Again, I’m saying this strictly from a human standpoint and not as a Minnesota Viking who wants more of a competitive advantage. That’s not where that comes from.”
Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, who is from the San Diego area, said he reached out to McVay to show support.
“There’s nothing I can say other than to think of them and pray for them and just hope things start to get better,” O’Connell said.
The Vikings went from consensus 1-point favorites to 2.5-point favorites Thursday after announcing the game’s location change.
Relocating games is rare in the NFL, but it’s not unheard of. In 2003, due to wildfires in Southern California, the league moved the Monday night regular season game between the Chargers and Dolphins from San Diego to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.
The Rams moved from Mexico City to Los Angeles in 2018 to play Monday night against Kansas City due to concerns about the playing surface at Azteca Stadium, but McVay said he was prepared for the uncertainty that arose this week. He cited that experience as part of his work.
“We’re aware of these things, but we want to see how we can control that to make sure we’re preparing properly, also keeping in mind that this is more important than football.” said McVeigh. “If people you work directly with are affected, you make sure you address the issue first.”
This report used information from Sarah Barshop, Chris Lim and Kevin Seifert of The Associated Press and ESPN.
