The NFL was left with a conundrum after making the decision to cancel Week 17’s suspended game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals. The ripple effects of Damar Hamlin’s on-field collapse left two of the AFC’s top teams with only 16 games on their records instead of the typical (since 2021) 17.
This was a problem. The Kansas City Chiefs finished 2022 with the AFC’s top regular season record at 14-3. But the Bills, who beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in Week 6, were 13-3 and left with no opportunity to stake their claim in a seeding system that now relied on win percentage. That left no objective way to decide where the AFC Conference Championship would be played should the two juggernauts meet with a trip to Super Bowl 57 on the line.
In response, the league announced that game, should it happen, would take place on a neutral field. On Thursday, NFL officials unveiled Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium as the backdrop for a showdown between the AFC’s top two seeds.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta Selected as Site of Potential Buffalo-Kansas City AFC Championship Game: https://t.co/XVDjR1J15h
— NFL345 (@NFL345) January 12, 2023
Atlanta was an early frontrunner for the job thanks to its modern, climate-controlled stadium and similar distance from both Buffalo (an 892 mile drive) and Kansas City (799 miles). Any other AFC title game matchup would take place on the home field of the higher-seeded team.
There are some benefits to Mercedes-Benz Stadium beyond its location. Fans get some of the cheapest concessions in town. They’re also likely eager to see a postseason game since the Falcons haven’t hosted a playoff game since 2017. Atlanta can handle the infrastructure of a big sporting event because it does so all the time — Super Bowls, Final Fours, NCAA National Championship Games, etc.
But Atlanta is also slightly boring. The NFL could have made the first playoff game to take place in Las Vegas, possibly regaling crowds with rumors of Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs throwing heaters at the craps tables until 3 a.m. The game could have been moved to Lambeau Field and played in an ice storm, forcing the league’s top two offenses to show off their well-honed cold weather skills. They could have moved the game to London, which would have benefitted no one BUT would have been very funny.
Instead we got Georgia’s capital. Which is fine. Mercedes-Benz is a good stadium. The Bills and Chiefs would score a million points there.
You know, if it comes to that.
