Minneapolis chosen as contingency website if Kansas Metropolis Chiefs-Tampa Bay Buccaneers recreation has to relocate because of Hurricane Ian

The NFL has chosen U.S. Financial institution Stadium in Minneapolis because the contingency website for Sunday evening’s recreation between the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, league government vp Jeff Miller confirmed Wednesday.

As of now, the sport stays scheduled for Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The Buccaneers, nonetheless, have evacuated the realm because of results from Hurricane Ian’s landfall.

U.S Financial institution Stadium is accessible as a result of the Vikings shall be in London to play the New Orleans Saints.

Miller supplied no timetable or deadline for making a call however pledged that the league won’t do something to “negatively influence public security efforts within the affected areas.” He did say that if the sport is moved, it will be performed Sunday evening, reasonably than a day or two later.

“That is solely a contingency,” Miller stated, “however we’ll stay nimble and adaptable.”

The Buccaneers relocated their gamers, coaches and a few of their households to the South Florida space and are working towards on the Miami Dolphins’ facility. Taking part in in Tampa stays the group’s selection. “We will not management the surface forces,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles stated. “You recognize, our ideas are with town of Tampa proper now, however the place we’ve to play. Hopefully it’s Tampa and all the pieces is ok; meaning we’re not broken an excessive amount of. But when we’ve to go play elsewhere, you recognize, we simply need to focus and lock in. No one’s gonna to really feel sorry for us, you recognize, so we have gotta be able to play.”

Chiefs coach Andy Reid stated his group shall be able to play wherever the NFL schedules the sport.

“We’ll get ourselves prepared for that,” Reid stated. “When the league broadcasts it, then we’ll go forward and transfer ahead in that route. That could possibly be in Tampa, could possibly be there [Minneapolis]. My coronary heart goes out to the folks of Tampa. I have not fairly adopted and [don’t] know the way a lot it is hit and/or going to be hit, however from what I heard, it sounds prefer it could possibly be fairly a deal.”

This could not be the primary time the NFL has moved a recreation for climate causes. Detroit’s Ford Subject has hosted such video games twice. One got here in 2010, when the Vikings and New York Giants’ recreation on the Metrodome was upended by heavy snow and the collapse of the stadium’s roof. The opposite was in 2014, when heavy snow in Buffalo pressured the Payments and New York Jets to shift venues.

NFL Nation reporters Jenna Laine and Adam Teicher contributed to this story.