Atlanta Announced as Site of Potential A.F.C. Championship Matchup

The N.F.L. introduced Thursday that Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta would function the impartial web site for a possible A.F.C. championship sport between the Buffalo Payments and Kansas Metropolis, ought to these groups advance.

That sport can be performed Jan. 29, a Sunday, at 6:30 p.m., Japanese time.

The N.F.L. final week permitted a decision to “mitigate the aggressive inequities” brought on by the cancellation of the Jan. 2 Payments-Bengals sport due to Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest.

That sport, in Week 17, had vital playoff implications. Each the Payments and the Cincinnati Bengals have been in rivalry for the A.F.C.’s No. 1 seed, which comes with a coveted bye for the playoffs’ first spherical and home-field benefit all through the convention playoffs.

The N.F.L. postponed the sport after Hamlin’s collapse, then introduced later that it could not be resumed or replayed. Kansas Metropolis was in first place when the sport was stopped after which gained its last regular-season sport to complete with a 14-3 file and maintain on to the convention’s prime seed.

Kansas Metropolis misplaced to the Payments (13-3) and the Bengals (12-4) in the course of the common season. As a result of Buffalo and Kansas Metropolis wound up taking part in an uneven quantity of video games, the N.F.L. determined that if the groups met within the convention championship, the sport ought to be performed at a impartial web site. A matchup between different groups for the A.F.C. championship can be performed on the dwelling stadium of the group with the upper seed, the league mentioned.

In an announcement, the N.F.L. mentioned taking part in the sport at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which opened in 2017 and hosted the Tremendous Bowl within the 2018 season, would make sense as a result of it’s almost equidistant from each Buffalo and Kansas Metropolis, Mo. (Buffalo is almost 900 miles from Atlanta; Kansas Metropolis is almost 800.)

Hamlin was discharged from a Buffalo hospital on Wednesday, and his continued enchancment was cited by the league in its announcement.

“We’re heartened by the continued enchancment and progress of Damar Hamlin in his restoration, and Damar and his household stay prime of thoughts for your entire N.F.L. neighborhood,” Commissioner Roger Goodell mentioned, including that he was “grateful to Arthur Clean and the Atlanta Falcons for agreeing to host the A.F.C. championship sport.”

On Sunday, within the wild-card spherical, the Payments, who’ve the A.F.C.’s No. 2 seed, will host the Miami Dolphins, and the Bengals, with the No. 3 seed, will host the Baltimore Ravens.