Monday's first-round playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams will now take place on a neutral field after the NFL officially announced on Thursday that the ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles have forced the league to move the contest to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The Wild-Card playoff matchup was set to take place on the Rams' home field inside SoFi Stadium, but the NFL clearly felt it was necessary to move the game outside of Los Angeles.
According to NFL Media's Tom Pelissero, this will be just the second time in NFL history that a non-Super Bowl playoff game has been moved to a new location. The only other time happened all the way back in 1936.
Minnesota Vikings playoff game against Los Angeles Rams will now take place in Arizona
So, instead of heading to Los Angeles to avenge a Week 8 loss to the Rams, Minnesota's playoff journey will now begin in a building where they haven't won a game since 2008.
State Farm Stadium is the home venue for the Arizona Cardinals and it first opened in 2006 (known as University of Phoenix Stadium until 2018). In a total of four regular-season matchups against the Cardinals inside the building, the Vikings have only walked off the field with a win once.
That happened back in Week 15 of the 2008 season when Minnesota defeated Arizona by a final score of 35-14.
The Vikings' last appearance inside State Farm Stadium took place in Week 2 of the 2021 campaign when they suffered a 34-33 loss to the Cardinals.
Despite the new location, Monday's contest will still kick off at its originally scheduled time at 7 p.m. CST.
For those who are looking to attend Minnesota's playoff game in Arizona on Monday, tickets for the contest will go on sale at 12 p.m. CST through Seatgeek.com for Rams Season Ticket Members, and then at 2 p.m. CST for the general public.