1 city turned down NFL’s request to host AFC championship game

Feb 1, 2022; Inglewood, CA, USA; The NFL shield logo is seen at midfield at SoFi Stadium. Super Bowl LVI between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals will be played on Feb. 13, 2022. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The city of Indianapolis has turned down a request from the NFL to potentially host the AFC Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium later this month, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported on Friday.

League officials contacted the Indianapolis Colts with the proposal earlier this week. The inquiry came on the heels of a Week 17 game between Buffalo and Cincinnati being canceled due to Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffering cardiac arrest on the field. Hamlin was administered CPR and rushed to a local hospital, where he’s made a miraculous recovery.

The game’s cancelation resulted in scheduling problems for the NFL. With both the Bills and Bengals destined for the playoffs, the league has mapped out different scenarios in an effort to maintain a level playing field. Options include playing the aforementioned AFC Championship Game at a neutral site. The game just won’t be in Indianapolis.

Lucas Oil Stadium will be hosting a volleyball tournament at the same time the AFC Championship Game is scheduled to be played.

“After the NFL reached out to the Colts to explore the possibility of Indy hosting the AFC Championship as a neutral site, the Capital Improvement Board and Visit Indy quickly touched base with … Capitol Sports Volleyball, which has grown each and every year it has been in the city,” said Chris Gahl, executive vice president of Visit Indy. “With 30,000 volleyball players, families and fans coming in to spend the same weekend for the event [as the championship game], based on timing, that event had to stay in place as it was.”

Immediately after the tournament concludes, the setup will be disassembled and rebuilt for a Monster Jam event scheduled to take place the following day.

“It’s our understanding that [the volleyball event] has been set in stone and cannot be moved, and virtually every hotel room in the city is booked,” Pete Ward, chief operating officer for the Colts, told IBJ. “So, it’s just one of those things you can’t prepare for, or really anticipate—that Indianapolis would ever be the site for a neutral-site league championship game. It’s just one of those things where the timing didn’t work.”

The NFL is facing three separate scenarios in which a neutral site may be needed to play the game. Thus far, a final decision has not yet been made.