Potential decision made for Championship Game location

[RyanC883]

On 1/7/2023 at 8:47 PM, Boatdrinks said:

Wow, I’d be shocked if true. Too close to Buffalo, too far from KC. It will be tons of Bills fans depending on how tickets are distributed 

 

agreed, but living in Pgh this is my top choice!! 

[Bob Chandler's Hands]

I'd be shocked if it's held in a college stadium. 

1) NFL has specific standards for stadiums around locker rooms, lighting etc. Of course major college is top notch too, but it's not NFL 'certified'. 

2) The NFL will want this to benefit one of the owners or NFL cities, not a college. 

3) It's one thing for Ann Arbor or State College to host 100,000 people for a game with a significant chunk of them being students and 'locals'. But for this game it would be 100,000 out of towners. Imagine the logistics and hotel capacity challenges!

[RyanC883]

On 1/6/2023 at 10:12 PM, JohnBonhamRocks said:

Since Indy seems to be out, how about right nearby at Notre Dame Stadium? The Fighting Irish / Bills fan that is me would freak. Capacity 77,622.

 

I’d love it, but too cold. 

[NewEra]

Dunno where to post this question, so ill

plop it here.  
 

if we beat Miami and Cinci beats baltimore, Cinci plays @ Buffalo, correct?  Just making sure they didn’t throw a strange stipulation in there.  

[Boatdrinks]

Just now, NewEra said:

Dunno where to post this question, so ill

plop it here.  
 

if we beat Miami and Cinci beats baltimore, Cinci plays @ Buffalo, correct?  Just making sure they didn’t throw a strange stipulation in there.  

That is correct. 

[Ta111]

1 minute ago, NewEra said:

Dunno where to post this question, so ill

plop it here.  
 

if we beat Miami and Cinci beats baltimore, Cinci plays @ Buffalo, correct?  Just making sure they didn’t throw a strange stipulation in there.  

Correct. Buffalo is the 2 seed and Cincinnati is the 3 seed.

[Boatdrinks]

1 minute ago, Ta111 said:

Correct. Buffalo is the 2 seed and Cincinnati is the 3 seed.

I think he’s aware of that Ta, he just wondered if the agreed upon proposal had a stipulation for that matchup. 

[NewEra]

5 minutes ago, Ta111 said:

Correct. Buffalo is the 2 seed and Cincinnati is the 3 seed.

Thanks.  Yeah I knew the seeds, but KC is the 1 and we’re the 2, yet play neutral site.  

[major]

I’d like to see them play at a historic college football stadium. Rose bowl or cotton bowl. Heck, it would even be fun to have them play at Oakland coliseum and throw it back way old school 

[BADOLBILZ]

1 minute ago, major said:

I’d like to see them play at a historic college football stadium. Rose bowl or cotton bowl. Heck, it would even be fun to have them play at Oakland coliseum and throw it back way old school 

 

The Rose Bowl would be my favorite college venue to host the game if the weather was the usual perfectly dry and comfy in So Cal.   But it's not and it turns into a natural disaster fast when it's not.   Was raining sideways into SoFi during the National Championship game tonight.  

[BigDingus]

This may have been discussed already, but I randomly read this in a Yahoo article by Mike Florio where he suggests the league might be secretly hoping the Bills vs Chiefs neutral site thing happens, just so they can experiment with pitting cities against each other & racking up big concessions like they do the Super Bowl. 

 

"Would the league like to experiment with a neutral-site conference championship game, with an eye toward making the games neutral-site contests every year? An AFC stadium hosts the NFC game, an NFC stadium hosts the AFC game, and off we go — with the league squeezing the same kinds of concessions from host cities that it gets when it bestows a Super Bowl."

 

Interesting idea. Fans would hate it, but it might bring a bit more prestige to the conference championship games if the league starts treating them like mini-Super Bowls in this way.

[PromoTheRobot]

31 minutes ago, BigDingus said:

This may have been discussed already, but I randomly read this in a Yahoo article by Mike Florio where he suggests the league might be secretly hoping the Bills vs Chiefs neutral site thing happens, just so they can experiment with pitting cities against each other & racking up big concessions like they do the Super Bowl. 

 

"Would the league like to experiment with a neutral-site conference championship game, with an eye toward making the games neutral-site contests every year? An AFC stadium hosts the NFC game, an NFC stadium hosts the AFC game, and off we go — with the league squeezing the same kinds of concessions from host cities that it gets when it bestows a Super Bowl."

 

Interesting idea. Fans would hate it, but it might bring a bit more prestige to the conference championship games if the league starts treating them like mini-Super Bowls in this way.

 

The more I think about it the more of a "f*** you" it is to fans to do this. How many Bills season ticket holders can pick up and fly out to a game? Add in hotels , rental cars, meals, etc. all because you want to see the Bills in the AFCC. Terrible idea.

[Sierra Foothills]

11 hours ago, mannc said:

Chicago is an awful alternative...no one in their right mind wants to see an AFC Championship game played in crappy weather conditions if it can be avoided, and in this case, it can easily be avoided.    

 

11 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

As that ref said in the Bills/Bears game..........all of the worst weather games he's had to work were in Chicago.    It's windy as hell by that lake.   That's why they are building a dome in the suburbs next.

 

Not only weather but also I think the number of highly-publicized complaints about the playing surface at Soldier Field disqualifies it as a potential neutral site.

 

[BigDingus]

17 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

The more I think about it the more of a "f*** you" it is to fans to do this. How many Bills season ticket holders can pick up and fly out to a game? Add in hotels , rental cars, meals, etc. all because you want to see the Bills in the AFCC. Terrible idea.

 

Of course it's a terrible idea for us fans. So are most of the choices the league makes these days. But if they end up making a ton of money off a neutral site AFCCG, I can definitely see them considering doing it again going forward.

[BADOLBILZ]

21 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

The more I think about it the more of a "f*** you" it is to fans to do this. How many Bills season ticket holders can pick up and fly out to a game? Add in hotels , rental cars, meals, etc. all because you want to see the Bills in the AFCC. Terrible idea.

 

 

Well then they can just pretend it's a road game for Buffalo and watch from home just like if that stadium is filled with season ticket holders of the home team.

 

Like normal.

 

So basically,  don't think about it more.

 

But the answer.......if the tickets are sold at face value to season ticket holders as they are normally.........is A LOT of season ticket holders can afford it if it's a reasonable driving distance from WNY.    Certainly enough to fill our half of an NFL stadium.    We'd probably buy almost all of our dozens of tickets as a group and if some people couldn't go then other people would likely fill in for them or get sold off.    And we'd drive in big groups to the location the day before.

[Nextmanup]

14 minutes ago, BigDingus said:

 

Of course it's a terrible idea for us fans. So are most of the choices the league makes these days. But if they end up making a ton of money off a neutral site AFCCG, I can definitely see them considering doing it again going forward.

The little guy fan sitting in a seat at a stadium is just about the last thing on Earth the NFL thinks--or cares--about.

 

Why?  There's no money in it.  Not real money.

 

 

 

[Captain Caveman]

Still no actual decision on the championship game location and this thread title still sucks.

[Drew21PA]

Wouldn’t doubt if it was tennessee - Nashville market is massive 

[Luka]

8 hours ago, BigDingus said:

This may have been discussed already, but I randomly read this in a Yahoo article by Mike Florio where he suggests the league might be secretly hoping the Bills vs Chiefs neutral site thing happens, just so they can experiment with pitting cities against each other & racking up big concessions like they do the Super Bowl. 

 

"Would the league like to experiment with a neutral-site conference championship game, with an eye toward making the games neutral-site contests every year? An AFC stadium hosts the NFC game, an NFC stadium hosts the AFC game, and off we go — with the league squeezing the same kinds of concessions from host cities that it gets when it bestows a Super Bowl."

 

Interesting idea. Fans would hate it, but it might bring a bit more prestige to the conference championship games if the league starts treating them like mini-Super Bowls in this way.

 

I'm shocked they haven't done this yet. With the amount of money the NCAA rakes in every year with bowl games, I'm sure the NFL has considered the idea every year at the owner's meetings. 

 

You get to pull revenue from the cities that host the games, you could sell sponsorships like the NCAA bowl games.

 

And let's be realistic, most people that can afford to buy tickets to these playoff games can afford to travel for them as well so I don't think you would see any drop off in attendance. 

[billsfanmiamioh]

2 minutes ago, Luka said:

 

I'm shocked they haven't done this yet. With the amount of money the NCAA rakes in every year with bowl games, I'm sure the NFL has considered the idea every year at the owner's meetings. 

 

You get to pull revenue from the cities that host the games, you could sell sponsorships like the NCAA bowl games.

 

And let's be realistic, most people that can afford to buy tickets to these playoff games can afford to travel for them as well so I don't think you would see any drop off in attendance. 

I don’t like it, but with adding a 7th playoff team I think  the #1 seed became disproportionately valuable. I prefer the old setup with 1 and 2 seeds getting a bye, but neutral site championship games would neutralize the sting of missing out on a 1 seed a bit. It’s an interesting idea to say the least.