GLENDALE, AZ (AZFamily) — State Farm Stadium in Glendale may host a playoff game, just not with the Arizona Cardinals.
The NFL put out a statement on Wednesday saying it has a contingency plan for the Minnesota Vikings-Los Angeles Rams wild card game if the game can’t be played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood due to the destructive and deadly wildfires.
If the game can’t be played in Southern California, it’ll be played on Monday night at the Cardinal’s stadium if necessary.
The NFL said it’s monitoring the situation in L.A. but it’s unclear when officials would decide on moving the location of the game.
The Phoenix area has been in this role before.
In 2003, Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe hosted a Miami Dolphins-San Diego Chargers Monday Night Football game on 24 hours’ notice because of the wildfires burning near San Diego.
The air quality in the city was bad and Qualcomm Stadium, the Chargers’ home stadium, was being used as an evacuation center.
In 2007, the Chargers used the Cardinals’ Tempe training facility to practice before their Week 8 game because Qualcomm Stadium was being used as an evacuation center.
Wildfires were burning in San Diego County and 40 members of the Chargers organization were forced to evacuate.
The Chargers returned home for the game.
In 2020, the San Francisco 49ers couldn’t play in Santa Clara because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, so the team moved three of its home games to Glendale and hosted their practices there, too.
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