In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Michael Bidwill got a phone call from Dawn Aponte, the NFL chief administrative officer of football operations.
The wildfires in Southern California were getting worse, Aponte said, and there was a chance the Los Angeles Rams' home playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings wasn't going to be able to be played at SoFi Stadium.
That Bidwill would get such a call wasn't a surprise. The Cardinals owner had often made State Farm Stadium, where his team played, available for league contingency plans. That was determined long before the fires broke out – before the season, in fact, commissioner Roger Goodell said.
In this case, Bidwill began holding internal meetings with decision-makers in his organization as the process began, a day before the league announced the game could be moved to Arizona, and two days before the Wild Card game was officially moved -- and played Monday, a 27-9 Rams victory six days after that initial phone call.
"The most important thing is where you end it, which is incredibly well," Goodell said before the game kicked off on Monday. "It's been incredibly smooth. But it starts with preparation and understanding how to do these things. We didn't start on Thursday afternoon. The whole idea is to start as soon as it becomes potential.
"Those contingency plans are in place to make sure we are prepared if we do have to make that call. When we call Michael Thursday afternoon to say, 'We're coming,' we were already a long way down (the road.)"
There was another stadium under consideration, Goodell said (he didn't name which.) The plan has been in place mainly for concern about hurricane season; it was happenstance there was such a short distance between the Rams' stadium and the Cardinals' home – less than 400 miles.
The Cardinals have helped out other teams in the past. The San Diego Chargers hosted the Miami Dolphins in 2003 at the then-Cardinals home of Sun Devil Stadium because of wildfires. Wildfire air quality issues forced the Chargers to use the Dignity Health Training Center for practices in 2007, working later in the afternoon after the Cardinals were done for the day. And then in 2020, tighter Covid restrictions in Santa Clara forced the San Francisco 49ers to play their last three "home" games at State Farm Stadium.
Moving a playoff game was different, however. It's only the second time in NFL history a postseason game – aside from the neutral site Super Bowls – wasn't played at a team's home stadium. The other, the 1936 NFL title game between the Green Bay Packers and Boston Redskins, was moved to New York because of poor ticket sales at Boston's Fenway Park.
Monday's game sold just fine despite the late move -- attendance was 64,515.
"For everybody, it's been a difficult week," Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford said after the win. "So just proud of this group and happy that we could come out and play the way we did tonight. Give the people back home something to cheer about for a little bit."
The Cardinals wanted to think of more they could do for the Rams beyond the game itself. Offered up was the Tempe practice facility; the Rams took them up on that with a Friday night arrival and Saturday and Sunday work. The Cardinals offered to fly over the team, staff and families, sending two of the jets from their Gridiron Air fleet to shuttle everyone.
Once here, the Cardinals found activities for children of the traveling party, recommended babysitting services, and in one case of a current high-risk pregnant woman, made sure there was a specialist at St. Joseph's Hospital that could be available if needed.
"Our organization is viewed as a go-to, reliable organization, but the credit really goes to the team, not to me," Bidwill said. "There are scores of members of our team that had a hand in this."
Bidwill said the stadium remains as a contingency going forward in the postseason. The week of work does not surprise Goodell, who noted that Bidwill not only cares deeply about the Cardinals but the NFL.
"I think he finds this an opportunity to show how wonderful the stadium is, how wonderful the staff is, how this community pulls together for another community," Goodell said. "It's a great reflection not only on the organization but also the community."
That's what Bidwill was considering Monday night before the game, before any touchdowns were scored or winner determined.
"All of our hearts are breaking for what is happening in L.A.," Bidwill said. "We all think, 'What could I do?' If this is the only thing you can do, working as a game day employee, whether it's waving someone into the parking lot or serving concessions or if you are in football operations or sales, people are putting their all into this because they feel for the people of Los Angeles and the losses they have suffered.
"It's the spirit of Arizona. People love to jump in and help neighbors. Certainly the Rams, as a member of the league, we have people over there we know well. It's great to be able to help them out. I know they'd be doing the same for us."
