Annual neutral site championship games? Please, NFL

Although we respect Kansas City and Buffalo, it is not fair to them. However, if you love the NFL’s other 30 teams, then you might be inclined to root for the Chiefs or Bills to lose in this weekend’s divisional round to Cincinnati or Jacksonville.

It’s not personal; a Josh Allen-Patrick Mahomes AFC title game would be incredible.

It’s just that if Chiefs-Bills come to fruition, the NFL will, for the first time, stage the AFC Championship Game at a neutral site, Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. This was due to the cancellation of the Buffalo/Cincinnati match after Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed.

The NFL didn’t believe home-field advantage could be fairly determined since Buffalo played one fewer game than KC. (The other three potential matchups would proceed as normal — Jacksonville at Buffalo, Cincinnati at Kansas City or Jacksonville at Cincinnati.)

The NFL also has the opportunity to test a concept that would be profitable, whether or not it is successful, at the expense and loyalty of many fans and local markets.

Friday’s league release celebrated the purchase of 50,000 tickets by season ticket holders for both teams in one day. The press release heralded that the Chiefs and Bills were working with “Season Ticket Members to provide priority access, subject to availability.”

The league is clearly hyped about a game that may never happen, and revenue is all that matters (which is what we are referring to the NFL).

As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk stated, “the foundation is further being put in place for the NFL’s next strategy for … squeezing more golden eggs from the goose.”

The NFL playoffs are often amazing. They can be almost impossible to miss. You could play it on a high school field in Alaska and it’d be fine.

They should not move from the stadium where they are playing for the higher-seeded teams.

These are just a few of the many reasons.

• A neutral site conference championship game diminishes the importance of a regular season that has already been diminished by the ever elongating season. The No. 1 seed receives a first-round bye and the value of home field in title games. 1 seed. The NFL shouldn’t take that away.

• The atmosphere at the neutral site Super Bowl almost always lacks the unbridled passion of a home playoff game. There are many people who don’t care about the other teams and there are also corporate ticket holders and more attached fans. And the revelry of pregame tailgates can’t be duplicated.

• Taking the game out of home markets is a major loss for those communities, including local businesses and stadium workers. The NFL selected Atlanta as its neutral venue, signaling that it might use the same principles as Super Bowl selections to decide where to stage neutral championship matches. The NFL chose Atlanta to host neutral championship games.

The majority of NFL stadiums are paid for with public money. It’s a lopsided deal, but among the few financial clawbacks is that game days generate enormous revenue. This is a shocking bait and switch.

It’s mainly about the fans.

The NFL is currently the only major professional league to hold its championship at a neutral venue. A fan can buy season tickets and be sure to have the chance to view the last game or part of the final series at their home.

That isn’t the case with the NFL, where only the most well-heeled fans can afford to travel to the Super Bowl. This problem can only be exacerbated by taking away the semifinals from local fans, and adding two more mini-Super Bowls.

The best thing about the NFL is the affordability of season ticket packages. In Buffalo, the average price for a 2022 season ticket was $113. Many working and middle-class fans can afford a package ($1,113), which includes 10 preseason and regular games. And that’s the average. You can find cheaper options.

Yes there is parking, seat licensing fees and more, but it’s better than having to buy 40 or so NBA or NHL games, let alone up to 81 in MLB.

These average fans would likely be priced out of the championship game. When pro sports teams start talking about “priority access,” they are talking about customers who purchase the most expensive seats and/or are willing to pay extra to be considered a “priority.”

If the NFL split its 50,000 “priority access” tickets with the season ticket holders of Kansas City and Buffalo, then each team got about 25,000 seats. The Bills, however, have 60,000 season ticket.

This is because the NFL takes care of customers who pay more (generally club ticket holders) at two franchises, while leaving most season ticket holders, who are less wealthy, out of the action. That’s a lot of non-prioritized customers.

That increases the value — and potential cost — for “priority access” that each team can charge fans. Neutral site games allow for the use of a portion of corporate seats or league seats. They can also offer concessions from host cities and any other sponsorships.

But not only would you need to spend to get “priority access”, you’d then need to spend money to travel to the neutral site game, including the likelihood of missing work the next day. And if you don’t have season tickets but want to splurge on the big game, well, add in the travel costs as well.

Plenty of people will gladly do that — no one is denying the demand.

It just won’t be the middle or working class fan who dutifully attend games week after week, year after year, in hopes of their team hosting the occasional championship game.