“The closest they would’ve gotten” – NFL Twitter mocks Indianapolis for letting the opportunity of hosting the AFC Championship go away
NFL continues its hunt for a neutral site to host the AFC Championship game after Indianapolis declines the league's offer to host the game
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Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis (Image via Architect Magazine)
As per reports, the city of Indianapolis has refused the NFL’s request to host the AFC Championship game. The City has declined the offer because there are already multiple events lined up during the last week of January making it impossible for them to host the championship game.
On Thursday, the league announced that they will not resume the Week 17 Bills-Bengals game which opened a door to multiple problems. One of the issues that arose due to the cancelation of the game was that the AFC Championship game will be hosted at a neutral site.
The league officials asked the Indianapolis Colts executives about hosting the title game on either Jan. 28 or 29 but declined due to scheduling issues. The NFL will now look to other cities to possibly host the AFC Championship.
The city of Indianapolis cannot host the AFC Championship game due to a prior commitment
Indianapolis already has scheduled a national volleyball tournament at the Lucas Oil Stadium where NFL intended to host the game. This volleyball tournament is hosted by Capitol Sports Center called The Central Zone Invitational and is expected to have a footfall of over 30,000 people.
Due to this tournament, all the hotels in downtown Indianapolis have been booked in advance. Visit Indy and Indianapolis tried to work a way around this issue but were unable to and had to turn down the NFL.
Chris Gahl, executive vice president of Visit Indy explained the company’s plight to the Indianapolis Business Journal: “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. 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.”
The league now has three weeks to find a city that can host the game within such short notice as the final week of the regular season will commence today.
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