KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The NFL announced Thursday the AFC Championship Game will be held in Atlanta at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium if the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills both reach the game.
Due to the cancellation of the Week 17 Bills-Bengals matchup after Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed and went into cardiac arrest on the field, the NFL approved a resolution last week that there would be a neutral site game if the Bills and Chiefs both reach the AFC Championship due to the unequal amount of games between the two.
There were numerous potential candidates for the neutral game, with the most notable being Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis due to the city's medium distance between Buffalo and Kansas City, as Indianapolis is around a 7 1/2 hour drive from both cities.
However, executives with the Colts released a statement that Indianapolis would be unable to host the game due to the stadium already hosting a volleyball tournament the same weekend as the AFC Championship.
While Atlanta was decided as the solution, the distance from Kansas City and Buffalo to the site is a bit uneven.
The flight time from Kansas City to Atlanta is nearly 40 minutes shorter (2 hours, 15 minutes) than the flight time from Buffalo (2 hours, 55 minutes).
Driving from Kansas City to Atlanta takes just over 12 hours compared to the over 13-hour-long drive from Buffalo to Atlanta.
If the Chiefs reach the AFC Championship Game, it will be the first time the team has played at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Kansas City last played in Atlanta in 2016 in the now-demolished Georgia Dome.
The Bills have played at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium once before in 2017, one year before the team drafted their star QB Josh Allen.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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