GLENDALE, Ariz. – The Los Angeles Rams made themselves at home on Monday night for their NFL wild-card playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings — even if their adopted stadium featured an unusual amount of red and was nearly 400 miles east of their regular venue.
The NFC West champion Rams were the home team for the matchup with the Minnesota Vikings at State Farm Stadium, home of the division rival Arizona Cardinals. The game was moved on Thursday, a few days after devastating wildfires broke out in the Los Angeles area.
“When we made that decision, the league comes together,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in an interview on ESPN. “And we have preparations for what we call contingency plans, (which) includes two stadiums every week and this was a perfect fit as far as the location for the Los Angeles Rams fans.
“I’m proud to say 45,000 of them made the trip over here, which is just extraordinary to me.”
LA fans filled large swaths of the parking lot before the game, tailgating by the thousands. Both end zones were painted in the Rams’ blue and yellow color scheme, and the team’s logo was painted at midfield. As fans entered the stadium, they were greeted with Rams towels.
A “Thank You Firefighters and First Responders” banner was prominent in one end zone and an “LA Together” banner was on display before the game.
State Farm Stadium — with a capacity of 63,400 — appeared nearly full at kickoff.
“There’s a feeling amongst the team — this is for LA,” Rams running back Kyren Williams said Saturday. “This is for hope back at home that they can cling onto, that the Rams are going to be the people who can take them away from whatever they’re going through for a few hours.”
Game relocations are rare in the NFL, but not unprecedented. Arizona has been a popular location for the last-minute moves.
In 2003, the league moved a Monday night regular-season game between the Chargers and Dolphins from San Diego to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, to avoid wildfires in Southern California. In 2020, the San Francisco 49ers spent about a month in Arizona because of COVID-19 restrictions at home in Santa Clara County.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.