On Monday night at 8 p.m. ET, the Los Angeles Rams are scheduled to host the Minnesota Vikings at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA, in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs. However, the wildfires raging in the area have caused the game to be relocated.
NFL Moves Vikings-Rams Game Amid Los Angeles Wildfires
According to the Los Angeles Times, this is one of the most destructive fires in the region’s history, as it has burned more than 5,000 acres and 1,000 structures and tragically caused multiple deaths.
The NFL ultimately decided to move the game to Arizona, releasing the following statement:
“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 decision was made in consultation with public officials, the participating clubs and the NFLPA.”
The NFL announced that tickets for the game will go on sale at 10 a.m. PT on Friday morning through SeatGeek to Rams fans with season tickets and then at noon PT to the general public.
The game will still be televised on ESPN, ABC, ESPN+, and ESPN Deportes at its scheduled 8:00 p.m. ET time.
The fact that this is a playoff game likely complicated matters, as postponing the game would have affected the postseason schedule. This was already slated to be the final game of Wild Card Weekend and pushing it back any further would impact the Divisional Round.
The Rams-Vikings game being relocated to Arizona makes sense simply because of the close distance between the two stadiums.
Previous NFL Games That Were Relocated
This isn’t the first time that the NFL has had to relocate a game due to wildfires.
Back in October 2003, the NFL moved a Monday Night Football game between the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins from Qualcomm Stadium in California to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, AZ. At the time, three factors reportedly contributed to the NFL’s decision to relocate the game:
- Qualcomm Stadium’s parking lot was being used as an evacuation center
- Poor air quality because of the smoke
- Police were stretched thin, so providing game security would be an issue
“Clearly the priority in San Diego is on health and public safety, not playing football, and we certainly understand that,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said at the time that Chargers-Dolphins was relocated.
Similar factors caused Monday’s playoff game to be moved.
This is just the second time in NFL history that a playoff game has been relocated, with the other being the 1936 NFL Championship between the Boston Redskins and Green Bay Packers (which was moved from Boston to New York in order to improve attendance).
Two playoff games in NFL history have been moved to a new city, per @NFLPlus:
1936: Boston Redskins and Green Bay Packers NFL Championship Game, from Boston to New York.
2025: Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams wild-card game, from L.A. to Glendale, Ariz.
(h/t @NFLPlus)
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 10, 2025
Here are some other instances of NFL games having to be relocated over the last 15 years:
Vikings vs. Giants, 2010: A snowstorm in Minnesota and damage to the Metrodome caused a Vikings-Giants to be moved to Detroit and a Vikings-Bears game to be played at the University of Minnesota campus.
Vikings vs. Eagles, 2010: A Sunday Night Football game between the Vikings and Eagles was pushed back two days due to a snowstorm in Philadelphia.
Jets vs. Bills, 2014: A snowstorm in Buffalo caused this late-November contest to be moved to Detroit and postponed until the following day.
Cowboys vs. Texans, 2017: This was a preseason game that was canceled due to Hurricane Harvey. Since it was just an exhibition game, it wasn’t rescheduled.
Dolphins vs. Buccaneers, 2017: This showdown between two Florida teams was pushed back to the following week due to Hurricane Irma.
Cardinals vs. Saints, 2021: In another instance of a preseason game getting canceled, this Cardinals-Saints matchup was never played due to Hurricane Ida.
Saints vs. Packers, 2021: In Week 1 of the season, the Saints-Packers game was moved to Jacksonville because of damage caused by Hurricane Ida.
Browns vs. Buffalo, 2022: A severe snowstorm caused this late-November game to be relocated to Detroit.