The potential AFC Championship game between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs will be held at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium as part of the league's equity proposal considering the canceled Bills-Bengals game.
And even though the Chiefs would be the No. 1 seed and the Bills the No. 2 seed, sources tell CBS Sports that the game would be treated like a true neutral site game. In fact, expect little difference in operation between that potential matchup and Super Bowl LIII between the Patriots and Rams, held at the same stadium four years ago.
The Chiefs would be designated as the "home" team, so they'd pick what jersey color they wear, and the Bills would call the coin toss as the designated "away" team. But neither team would be in the usual home locker room of the Falcons, as one will be in the visitors locker room and another in the auxiliary locker room. That is common for major non-Falcons sporting events like the SEC Championship or College Football Playoff.
Though details are being ironed out, the game presentation would likely have one end zone painted in Chiefs colors and the other in Bills colors with the NFL shield (or AFC logo) at midfield. Both teams would get their own player introductions. When the Bills score a touchdown, "Shout!" would be played like it would at Highmark Stadium. When the Chiefs score a touchdown, "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" would be played, just like at Arrowhead.
The Falcons would staff the game like a typical home game, but the league would likely put its own major-event touches on it. For example, the NFL would likely bring in its own public address announcer for the game.
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The NFL chose Atlanta as the host in part because its nearly equidistant from Buffalo and Kansas City. The stadium has been a contingency site for years for the league, and both the city and the stadium are extremely capable of hosting large events.
The entire need for a neutral site came about in the final week of the regular season. With the cancelation of the Bills-Bengals game following Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest on the field, the league had a competitive balance issue related to the playoffs. The Chiefs, Bills and Bengals went into that Monday night all vying to be the No. 1 seed.
In a proposal change that was narrowly passed, the league created what it saw was a fairer way to conduct the postseason while accounting for possible competitive inequities. But the Bengals lost their shot at the No. 1 seed in the process.
The Bengals tried to whip up "no" votes from other owners but ultimately failed. According to sources, the Chiefs abstained from voting on the proposal while the Bills voted yes.
The NFL began searching for potential neutral sites. It's unclear what input the Bills had, but a league source said the Chiefs indicated they wanted an outdoor site on natural grass. They ended up getting a covered stadium on turf.
Still, Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium is one of the league's best. And it also offers far more premium seats than either Arrowhead or Highmark, which means a greater ticket revenue for the game even if it winds up getting split between the two teams. (Financial deals are still being worked out, per sources, and each team will get the same ticket allotment for the potential game.)
The only way the game takes place in Atlanta is if the Bills and Chiefs advance to the AFC Championship Game. If either team loses over the next two weeks, the AFC title game would be held at the home stadium of the higher seed.
Multiple independent sources outside of the league office floated a theory: what if this game is the start of future neutral site conference championship games. The thinking goes that the league has opened bidding for the NFL draft and NFL scouting combine, so could the NFL consider neutral site title games?
"I don't think there's any chance that someone won't say, 'Hmm maybe we should think about this,'" one league source said of the hypothetical.
The issues would be team owners giving away home-field advantage in a game that would take their team to the Super Bowl. The home team also gets to keep all the revenue they'd generate from their own premium seating. But each year only two team owners would be disadvantaged while 30 others would likely get even more money.
There are also logistical issues. Cities prepare years in advance for Super Bowls, and Atlanta was available because it's an unusually slow week for the city and the Falcons didn't advance to the playoffs. But knowing what stadium would absolutely be available before the start of the season -- or years in advance -- for a conference championship would present challenges. What if the city that won the bid had its team playing in its home stadium? There'd be a need for multiple potential sites each year, and that'd be a tall ask for the league.
With all the potential challenges, though, there are some positives to this being the future. If the NFL has turned a schedule release into a made-for-TV event, why couldn't it make its second-largest games of the year into even bigger events?
