https://sports.yahoo.com/rams-vikings-relocation-nearly-unprecedented-220926918.html
Ultimately, the NFL had no choice. On Thursday, as multiple fires continued to burn across Los Angeles, the league announced it would move Monday night’s wild card game between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings from LA’s SoFi Stadium to the Arizona Cardinals’ State Farm Stadium in Glendale.
The NFL cited public safety in its announcement, recognizing questions about air quality, community strain and the potentially overwhelming demands a playoff game could put on local police and fire department personnel.
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While NFL games have moved in the past—due to hurricanes, snowstorms and the COVID-19 pandemic, among other reasons—no postseason contest has had to relocate since 1936, when the National Professional Football League championship was pushed from Boston to New York. In that case, the calamity was low ticket sales leading up to the game.
Pre-existing ticket holders for Monday’s game were offered either a refund or a credit toward future events, while new stubs went on sale—first for Cardinals and Rams season ticket holders, and then for the general public—on Friday. A similar process played out for suite reservations. The NFL says 52,000 seats were sold during the initial two-hour priority window, with roughly 35,000 of those going to Rams season ticket holders. The team plans to offer attendees buses from SoFi Stadium.
“The gate was going to be very large in LA, and it’s going to be meaningfully less here in State Farm Stadium,” Sportscorp president Marc Ganis said in a phone call.
The NFL collects the majority of playoff game ticket revenue, while competing teams are given stipends to cover travel and operation expenses. Home teams do keep a meaningful share of concessions and parking money; as of Friday it was unclear how that would be split between the Rams, Cardinals and NFL.
“The question is, ‘How much of the revenue will be retained by the Cardinals?’ and I’m not sure it’s very much,” Ganis said, “But they’re not going to be expected to be out of pocket.”
In 2010, when a roof collapse forced the Vikings to move to the University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium, the revenue it kept from parking and concessions was not game-changing, but the school appreciated the worldwide exposure that came with its hosting honors.
Gameday revenues—typically $1 million to $2 million—are relatively inconsequential for a team like the Rams, the NFL’s second most valuable franchise, according to Sportico’s calculations, with a 2023 revenue of roughly $800 million.
Losing a playoff game is also in some ways easier than accounting for a relocated regular season affair, as the postseason is often factored in only as a bonus in sponsor and ticket holder calculations.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Cardinals have lent two of the team’s planes to the Rams, as well as the keys to the team’s practice facility in advance of Monday’s contest.
Business owners around Glendale’s State Farm Stadium could be the biggest beneficiaries. Home playoff games generate millions of dollars’ worth of additional spending throughout the local economy, and the benefit of having two incoming groups of out-of-towners could outweigh the lack of local enthusiasm. The Cardinals haven’t hosted a home playoff game since 2015.
In theory, stadium naming rights sponsor State Farm would also benefit from the exposure. However, the company—the largest home insurer in California—has been criticized for its earlier decision to not renew its policies for an estimated 30,000 properties across the state, including 1,600 homes in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood that has since been decimated.
California will also lose nearly $1 million in income taxes from players. The state has been one of the most aggressive collectors of income taxes paid based on the number of workdays high earners spend there. Much of that money will be retained by players, as they instead spend two days in Arizona, which has a 2.5% tax rate compared to California’s top rate of 12.3%.
A bulk of NFL revenue comes through its media deals, and playoff games are the most valuable part of the package. Amazon is paying a reported $150 million for its wild card game Saturday night.
Monday’s broadcast will still be available across ABC, ESPN, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes.
NFL affiliates have committed $5 million to support those impacted by the wildfires across Los Angeles, including $1 million donated to the LAFD Foundation from the Kroenke family, which owns the Rams. The Minnesota Vikings and the Wilf Family Foundations are providing an additional $1 million for relief efforts.
The latest estimates suggest more than $50 billion in total economic loss as a result of the fires, which have also claimed at least 10 lives since Tuesday morning.
Both LA Chargers and Rams players and staff members will be equipped with custom shirts and hats on gameday; retail versions will be sold with proceeds benefiting the LAFD Foundation and the American Red Cross. Experiential viewing venue Cosm, which sits next to SoFi Stadium, will show the game, with all ticket proceeds going to the LAFD Foundation.
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https://sports.yahoo.com/rams-vikings-relocation-nearly-unprecedented-220926918.html
