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Friday, March 29, 2024

Where will AFC championship game be played? Latest news on NFL’s neutral site location for 2023 playoffs

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With the NFL cancelling Bengals vs. Bills, the league submitted a proposal trying to combat potential inequities between the Nos. 1, 2, and 3 seeds in the playoffs should they arise.

Because the Bengals and Bills will no longer have a 17th game, the Bengals lost their shot at the No. 1 seed whereas the Bills now just need to win and have the Chiefs lose (they could have clinched it outright with two wins to end the season).

According to the proposal ratified by NFL owners Friday, the league’s solution is to play the AFC championship at a neutral site if it ends up being Bills vs. Chiefs, if the Bills and Chiefs win or lose together this week; OR a neutral site if it’s some combination of Bengals, Bills, and Chiefs if the Bengals win and the Bills and Chiefs lose.

If that were to come to pass, the Bengals would be half a game out of the No. 1 seed, and they own the tiebreaker over the Chiefs. The simplest way to view this is: If the seeding would be changed by the canceled game, the game would be played at a neutral site.

MORE: Why NFL’s 2023 playoff proposal could hurt Cincinnati Bengals

Where would a neutral site game be played?

The biggest question for the AFC championship is where a neutral site game would be played.

Detroit is not likely in the picture. Although the Lions can’t possibly host a playoff game, Detroit plans to resurface Ford Field to replace the slit film turf with monofilament field turf, per Kyle Meinke.

Obviously Detroit wasn’t accounting for this unique set of circumstances, and when it became impossible for the Lions to host a home game, they bumped up their plans to resurface Ford Field from 2024 to this month.

With that, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis has been targeted as the next best solution. Indianapolis has, of course, hosted major events in its downtown center before (Final Four), and it would be a truly neutral site between Buffalo and Kansas City.

According to Albert Breer, the NFL had yet to talk to the Colts about the possibility on Thursday. But as the league formalizes its plans under a new set of circumstances, they will need to soon designate a neutral site should those scenarios come to pass.

Update: Lucas Oil Stadium is not, in fact, an option, as a national volleyball tournament will be occurring that weekend, per the Los Angeles Times’ Sam Farmer. The NFL will have to explore other options outside of Indianapolis.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

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