Potential decision made for Championship Game location

[Ra-cha-cha]

Week 17 Buffalo-Cincinnati game will not be resumed; neutral AFC Championship Game site being considered (nfl.com)

Just now, Ra-cha-cha said:

Week 17 Buffalo-Cincinnati game will not be resumed; neutral AFC Championship Game site being considered (nfl.com)

 

Week 17 Buffalo-Cincinnati game will not be resumed; neutral AFC Championship Game site being considered 

Published: Jan 05, 2023 at 09:18 PM

The NFL announced today that the Week 17 Buffalo Bills at Cincinnati Bengals game will not be resumed and has been cancelled.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell informed all clubs of his decision earlier today, after speaking with the Bills, the Bengals and NFL Players Association leadership.

"This has been a very difficult week," Goodell said. "We continue to focus on the recovery of Damar Hamlin and are encouraged by the improvements in his condition as well as the tremendous outpouring of support and care for Damar and his family from across the country. We are also incredibly appreciative of the amazing work of the medical personnel and commend each and every one of them."

Among the key factors in arriving at this decision:

Not playing the Buffalo-Cincinnati game to its conclusion will have no effect on which clubs qualify for the postseason. No club would qualify for the postseason and no club will be eliminated based on the outcome of this game.

It would require postponing the start of the playoffs for one week, thereby affecting all 14 clubs that qualify for postseason play.

Making the decision prior to Week 18 is consistent with our competitive principles and enables all clubs to know the playoff possibilities prior to playing the final weekend of regular season games.

Cancelling the game between the Bills and Bengals creates potential competitive inequities in certain playoff scenarios. In an effort to mitigate those inequities, NFL clubs will consider tomorrow in a Special League Meeting a resolution recommended by the Commissioner and approved today by the Competition Committee, consisting of two elements:

1 - The AFC Championship Game will be played at a neutral site if the participating teams played an unequal number of games and both could have been the number one seed and hosted the game had all AFC clubs played a full 17-game regular season. Those circumstances involve Buffalo or Cincinnati qualifying for the game as a road team and are listed below:

Scenario 1

Buffalo and Kansas City both win or both tie – a Buffalo vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.

Scenario 2

Buffalo and Kansas City both lose and Baltimore wins or ties – a Buffalo vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.

Scenario 3

Buffalo and Kansas City both lose and Cincinnati wins – a Buffalo or Cincinnati vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.

2 - If Baltimore defeats Cincinnati in Week 18 it will have defeated Cincinnati, a divisional opponent, twice but will not be able to host a playoff game because Cincinnati will have a higher winning percentage for a 16-game schedule than Baltimore will for a 17-game schedule.

If Baltimore defeats Cincinnati and if those two clubs are schedule to play a Wild Card game against one another, the site for that game would be determined by a coin toss. If Cincinnati wins the Week 18 game or if Baltimore and Cincinnati are not scheduled to play one another in the Wild Card round, the game sites would be determined by the regular scheduling procedures.

"As we considered the football schedule, our principles have been to limit disruption across the league and minimize competitive inequities," Goodell said. "I recognize that there is no perfect solution. The proposal we are asking the ownership to consider, however, addresses the most significant potential equitable issues created by the difficult, but necessary, decision not to play the game under these extraordinary circumstances."

[thunderingsquid]

PLEASE no neutral site in Detroit.  That would be awful. 

Just heard on SiriusXM 88 that it might be in Indy which is fine with me. 

 

[NewEra]

9 minutes ago, thunderingsquid said:

PLEASE no neutral site in Detroit.  That would be awful. 

Just heard on SiriusXM 88 that it might be in Indy which is fine with me. 

 

Agreed.  No Lions turf plz

[cba fan]

2 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Agreed.  No Lions turf plz

Indy has same turf as does Cincy. 🤷‍♂️

 

[NewEra]

5 minutes ago, cba fan said:

Indy has same turf as does Cincy. 🤷‍♂️

 

Hmm.  I thought they were different types of Turf, guess not.  did they change this year or are the turfs names just different, but are made equally?
 

https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/football-team/which-nfl-stadiums-have-artificial-turf-vs-real-grass?amp

[T.E.]

Domes suck and are totally depressing. Taking the AFCCG out of possibly Arrowhead or Buffalo is an abomination, which is why I'm not remotely surprised that was the decision Goodell went with.

Edited January 6, 2023 by Patrick Fitzryan

[DieHardFan]

This is total BS! 

 

I paid my Season Ticket bribe for 32 years to keep my senority through some pretty lean years for the RIGHT to (pay for ) and have ownership of MY SEATS for the playoffs. 2020 and the COVID reshuffling was bad enough (choose a sure thing or give it up to bet on an uncertain game). Fortunately I was able to reach a trade with a fellow STH and make both but NO THANKS TO THE NFL!

 

Now the NFL will make sure every kardashian, two-bit celebrity, and has been NFL player gets a seat and it at best it will be another lottery to get what should be mine. 

 

And since it was conveniently omitted, I await another reeming when it comes to a bye for the #1 seed.

 

Screw you NFL!

 

 

[Einstein]

I’d rather they just flip a coin to decide whether the game would be in Buffalo or KC.

[BADOLBILZ]

 

Vegas

[Dr.Sack]

I’m waiting on a full decision before I unleash my fury. 

[Saxum]

52 minutes ago, DieHardFan said:

This is total BS! 

 

I paid my Season Ticket bribe for 32 years to keep my senority through some pretty lean years for the RIGHT to (pay for ) and have ownership of MY SEATS for the playoffs. 2020 and the COVID reshuffling was bad enough (choose a sure thing or give it up to bet on an uncertain game). Fortunately I was able to reach a trade with a fellow STH and make both but NO THANKS TO THE NFL!

 

Now the NFL will make sure every kardashian, two-bit celebrity, and has been NFL player gets a seat and it at best it will be another lottery to get what should be mine. 

 

And since it was conveniently omitted, I await another reeming when it comes to a bye for the #1 seed.

 

Screw you NFL!

 

So ticket representative will be contacting you about PSLs soon?

 

[HerdMentality]

Hamilton, Ontario, CANADA.

[LeGOATski]

Hopefully will be played in Nashville. Open air and natural grass, plus fans tend to like visiting that city.

[HerdMentality]

10 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

Hopefully will be played in Nashville. Open air and natural grass, plus fans tend to like visiting that city.

Too close to either KC or Cincy for me. I vote PennState or U-Mich. Out of the box thinking.. What a HUGE spectacle!! 

Edited January 6, 2023 by HerdMentality

[LeGOATski]

3 minutes ago, HerdMentality said:

Too close to either KC or Cincy for me. I vote PennState or MU.

Interesting idea. I can't see them holding it at a college stadium, though, when there are perfectly good NFL venues available.

[TheBrownBear]

20 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

Hopefully will be played in Nashville. Open air and natural grass, plus fans tend to like visiting that city.

I like this idea a lot.  Agree with the others that it shouldn't be played in a dome.

[CorkScrewHill]

I am surprised there is no mention of a scenario where if the Bills play the Bengals in the divisional round that there would be a coin flip for that since the Bengals would be the 2 seed if they beat the Ravens and if they had defeated the Bills. In the scenarios laid out the Bills are treated favorably.

[FieldGeneral]

7 hours ago, Einstein said:

I’d rather they just flip a coin to decide whether the game would be in Buffalo or KC.

 

We've seen the end to that movie too often. 

[Arkady Renko]

This helps visualize it. 
 

 

[Shortchaz]

If it’s how playoffs usually go, we won’t have to worry about it. I.e. someone usually gets upset