LOS ANGELES — The NFL has moved the Rams’ wild-card playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings to Arizona after days of devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
The game will be played Monday night at State Farm Stadium, the home of the Arizona Cardinals, in suburban Glendale, Ariz.
The league announced the decision Thursday, a few hours after yet another fire broke out in an area several miles from the Rams’ training complex in the Woodland Hills neighborhood. The Rams canceled the post-practice media availability for their players to allow everyone to get home quickly.
In a brief statement, the league said the decision was made “in the interest of public safety.”
Los Angeles has been besieged by multiple wildfires all week following two days of extraordinary wind across the vast metropolitan area. The newest fire triggered an evacuation order in West Hills, a suburban neighborhood directly northwest of the Rams’ complex.
While none of the fires was burning near SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, the NFL is moving the game amid concerns about air quality, the strain put on the community and the possible demands on police and fire department personnel.
The Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers — who will play a wild-card game at Houston on Saturday — both practiced outdoors this week, but both teams’ coaches were concerned about the air quality, with Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh cutting his players’ normal outdoor time in half.
The Los Angeles area will be at a high fire risk through Friday, the National Weather Service announced.
A few hours before the Kenneth Fire broke out near the Rams training complex, coach Sean McVay said he was optimistic the game could be played at SoFi Stadium as scheduled while realizing uncertainty was unavoidable.
“We would like to be able to play the game at home in front of our fans,” McVay said. “That’s the way that we’re operating, but I can’t control when that decision will be made. … If it’s not in LA, then the game will still be played, and we’ve got to be able to get ready for that.”
Game relocations are very rare in the NFL but not unprecedented.
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, Ariz., after wildfires in Southern California.
The Rams had a Monday night game against Kansas City relocated from Mexico City to Los Angeles in 2018 because of concerns about the playing surface at Azteca Stadium, and McVay cited that experience as part of his preparation for the uncertainty created this week.
“You acknowledge these things, but you also want to make sure that how you can control making sure that you’re doing the right things is preparing accordingly, while also being mindful that this is bigger than football,” McVay said. “If people you’re directly involved with are affected, you’re making sure you’re tending to that first.”
The relocation won’t have much effect on the traveling Vikings, while the Rams weren’t overly concerned about missing out on the comforts of home. Like most NFL teams, the Rams stay in a hotel on the night before home games to ensure a restful sleep.
Before the Kenneth Fire broke out, McVay said no Rams players or coaches had been forced to move or had lost anything to the fire, although some team personnel had been affected.
“We’ve lost power where I am for a couple of days,” quarterback Matthew Stafford said. “We’ve been lucky in that regard, that (loss of) power is the worst thing that’s happened to us. Obviously it’s a tough thing to watch on the news, to be around, to see. Driving around, seeing all that, it’s just really sad to see what’s going on. A bunch of people (are) doing everything they possibly can to try and get things under control and get people back to normal as quickly as possible.”
NBA
The NBA postponed the Los Angeles Lakers’ home game against the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area.
It is the second straight day a game slated to be played in downtown Los Angeles has been postponed. The NHL’s Los Angeles Kings were scheduled to host the Calgary Flames
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on Wednesday night.The date for the rescheduled games will be announced at a later time. The Kings said tickets for their postponed game against Calgary will be good for the rescheduled date.
Three major fires were burning in areas of the vast Los Angeles metroplex following two days of extraordinary winds. A major threat broke out Wednesday evening in the Hollywood Hills, close to the heart of the entertainment industry, but had been contained by Thursday morning.
Roughly 180,000 people are under evacuation orders, and the fires have consumed about 45 square miles — roughly the size of San Francisco. The Palisades Fire is already the most destructive in Los Angeles’ history.
- Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard abruptly left the team before its game at Denver on Wednesday because of what the team described as personal reasons. Leonard bought a house in Pacific Palisades in 2021.
“You definitely have to take care of home. … Totally had my support 100%,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “Going back, checking on his family and kids, making sure they’re well. And he got back, and they’re doing OK, so just happy and thankful for that.”
College basketball
The West Coast Conference postponed women’s basketball games scheduled for Thursday night at Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount.
Pepperdine was scheduled to face the University of Portland at Firestone Field House on the school’s Malibu campus. Pepperdine canceled classes Wednesday, and access to its coastal campus is restricted.
Loyola Marymount had its game against San Diego postponed as a precautionary measure due to air quality concerns inside Gersten Pavilion while the facility is being renovated.
Horse racing
Santa Anita Park postponed Friday’s racing program until Jan. 16 because of poor air quality forecast in Arcadia, near the Eaton Fire.
The California Horse Racing Board approved the rescheduling of the 10-race card, which will be run with the horses previously entered.
“While Santa Anita continues to remain well outside of any active fire area, the smoke from the wildfires is affecting all of Los Angeles County,” track general manager Nate Newby said. “We also want to respect the impact that this tragedy has had on many of our community, including our horsemen and women and our own Santa Anita team, who have been devastated by these fires.”
A decision on Saturday and Sunday’s racing will be made Friday.
The track was handing out N-95 masks to all backstretch and frontside workers as well as protective eyewear because of the smoke.
Golf
The PGA Tour has not decided whether to play the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, scheduled for Feb. 13-16.
Riviera, which will host golf in the 2028 Olympics, is in the Pacific Palisades community and was part of the evacuation order. In a memo to players Thursday, the tour said the course was not directly affected by the fire. Golf tournaments require building hospitality tents around the course.
Tiger Woods is the host of the tournament, a signature event with a $20 million purse.
Soccer
Ali Riley, a defender for Angel City in the National Women’s Soccer League who also plays for the New Zealand national team, said her family’s home was destroyed in the Palisades Fire.
Riley posted a photo on Instagram of the devastated neighborhood with an arrow pointing to where the house once stood.
“I was there Monday night eating dinner. Hanging with mom and dad. Watched the sunset,” she wrote. “And now it’s gone forever.”