NFL moves Rams-Vikings game to Arizona as LA fires force historic change

The NFL has officially moved the location of Monday’s wild-card round matchup between the Rams and Vikings from SoFi Stadium in California to State Farm Stadium in Arizona. The move comes as wildfires continue to wreak havoc on Los Angeles County, causing 30,000 acres to burn and a mass exodus of people.The league said Wednesday it was monitoring the situation and that the Cardinals’ home stadium would serve as the alternate venue if necessary. In a statement on Thursday, the league said the decision was made “in the interest of public safety” and “in consultation with public officials, the participating clubs and the NFLPA.” The move marks just the second time in NFL history the league has changed the venue of a playoff game, with the 1936 championship between the Boston Redskins and Green Bay Packers moved from Boston’s Fenway Park to New York’s Polo Grounds due to lagging ticket sales.The decision comes on the heels of the Rams practicing on Thursday as smoke billowed just beyond their Woodland Hills facility. The team had also allowed players to skip required media obligations so they could get back to their homes after a new fire broke out in the West Hills neighborhood of Southern California, NFL Network reported.“Obviously, our thoughts and prayers are with everybody that’s been affected by these fires,” Rams head coach Sean McVay told reporters on Thursday.“It’s one of those deals that almost doesn’t feel real, but it certainly is real to the people that are affected.

Praying that as many people are OK, and you just see the amount of people that are affected and it’s one of those deals that it gives you perspective.Hopefully, they get this stuff under control.

It’s been a unique week. “Fortunately for us, there’s been some people that have been affected in regards to power outages, recommended evacuations — a couple of our staff members did have their homes affected — but fortunately to my knowledge, nobody has ...