The NFL announced Thursday night that it has moved Monday’s wild-card playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams to Arizona, saying the decision was made “in the interest of public safety.” “. Wildfires continue to ravage Southern California.
The game was scheduled to take place on Monday at 8pm at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The game will be played at the same time Monday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, home of the Arizona Cardinals.
The league said earlier this week that Arizona would be a contingency plan if Monday’s game had to be rescheduled. In a statement Thursday, the company said it decided to go ahead with the move after “consultation with government officials, participating clubs and the NFLPA.”
Hours earlier, another fire broke out in an area a few miles from the Rams’ training complex near Woodland Hills, causing the team to cancel scheduled player media coverage.
The Rams will travel to Arizona on Friday night, according to a team spokesman. They will practice and walk through Saturday at the Cardinals facility.
The league’s other Los Angeles team, the Chargers, are also preparing for this weekend’s playoffs, but they will face the Houston Texans on the road on Saturday at 4:30 pm ET.
The Rams and Chargers both practiced outdoors on Thursday.
Smoke could be seen from the Rams’ field, and coach Sean McVay said that while players, coaches and staff were affected by the fire, “fortunately, as far as I know, no one was injured.” We express our gratitude.”
The Chargers held their final practice before Saturday’s game. The scene inside their facility in El Segundo was dystopian: The sky burned orange, ash flew around the field, and many players, including outside linebacker Khalil Mack, tackle Joe Alt and quarterback Taylor Hynek, both wearing masks.
The Chargers do not have an indoor practice facility. Coach Jim Harbaugh said he followed the advice of “experts” and changed practices so players practiced outside for about 45 minutes, half the time they would normally practice outside. Harbaugh said they did not consider flying to Houston early and training there.
“Our guys did a great job of improvising and adjusting,” he said. “We’re actually as close to normal practices as we can get.”
Harbaugh also said his daughter Grace was evacuated from her Hollywood-area home Wednesday night and was staying with him.
Outside linebacker Joey Bosa said he lives near the evacuation zone and his fiancée and dog traveled to Houston early. Bosa said he slept with notifications on his phone blaring Wednesday night in case he had to evacuate.
“Hopefully when I get back to L.A. I have a house to go to,” Bosa said.
Before the NFL announced the site change for Monday’s game, Vikings defensive lineman Harrison Phillips, the team’s player representative with the NFLPA, said the league should be aware of the consequences of playing games in Los Angeles and align them with The NBA postponed games on par. The Lakers’ game against the Charlotte Hornets is scheduled for Thursday night in downtown Los Angeles. Phillips noted that the Lakers play indoors, while SoFi is an open-air stadium.
“When a hurricane hits a location, or a tornado comes through and destroys a community, you need to be very careful with your optics,” he said. “Again, I say this strictly from a human perspective, not as a Minnesota Viking who wants a better competitive advantage. That’s not where it comes from.”
Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, who is from the San Diego area, said he reached out to McVay to show his support.
“There’s really nothing you can say other than think of them, pray for them and hope things start to turn around,” O’Connell said.
The Vikings moved from consensus 1-point favorite to 2.5-point favorite Thursday after the game was announced to be moved.
Game locations are rare in the NFL, but not unprecedented. In 2003, the league moved Monday night’s regular-season game between the Chargers and Dolphins from San Diego to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, because of wildfires in Southern California.
In 2018, the Rams moved Monday night’s game against Kansas City from Mexico City to Los Angeles due to concerns about the playing surface at Azteca Stadium, an experience McVay cited as the uncertainty he created for this week part of preparation.
“You acknowledge those things, but you also want to make sure you’re in control and make sure you’re doing the right things and prepare accordingly, but also remember this is bigger than football,” McVay said. “If it’s with you. The people directly involved are affected and you want to make sure you deal with that first.”
This report used information from The Associated Press and ESPN’s Sarah Barshop, Kris Rhim and Kevin Seifert.
