NFL acts quickly to move Rams-Vikings site as raging wildfires threaten area

While we would love to focus exclusively on the LA Rams and the 2025 NFL Playoffs, there is a much more urgent matter to mention. You see, wildfires have erupted all around Los Angeles, California. These are not your average run-of-the-milll fires. These fires are fueled by bone-dry brush and growth, baked by an unfiltered summer sun, dried under no rain, and fanned by Santa Ana winds, the fires that rage unchecked are fast-moving and capable of sending sparks to break out in new fires miles from the original inferno.

Despite the heroics of hundreds of firefighters, some from neighboring states, the flames have raged on, consuming entire communities. While fires are not uncommon in California, this particular fire season is particularly devastating. And with massive destruction comes unforeseen impacts.

One such impact is the damage to the transmitter for ESPNLA 710AM. That station transmits coverage of many sports teams in the Los Angeles, California area, including the Los Angeles Lakers, Rams, Kings, and USC sporting events:

To place the sheer amount of damage into perspective, just one of the sites of the raging fires has already burned more acres than the entire area of Manhattan in New York City:

Because the fires exploded all around the Los Angeles, California area, the NFL needed to act quickly. The threat of active flames burning SoFi Stadium remained small. But the first have been fast-moving and unpredictable, creating a host of problems for the mass exodus of fans attending Monday Night Football to see the Minnesota Vikings visit the Los Angeles Rams at 5:00 pm PT on January 12, 2025.

And not only to attend the event, but to return home safely after the game. In the face of such unpredictability, the NFL coordinated with local authorities and the NFLPA to develop a feasible alternative to playing at SoFi Stadium.

The need to plan an alternative site was not something that was agreed to and forgotten about. Just 24 hours after agreeing to move the game to State Farm Stadium at Glendale, Arizona, the NFL made the decision to do so:

We will have more coverage of this decision, and how it will impact both the LA Rams and fans who hope to attend the game. Currently, the Minnesota Vikings are scheduled to play the Los Angeles Rams with a 5:00 pm PT kickoff. The game will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, home to the Arizona Cardinals.

There is growing interest around Rams fans attending the now-Arizona site for the 2025 NFL Playoffs by traveling the extra miles by bus, and as those plans take shape, we will do our best to summarize and share the information.

As always, thanks for reading.

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