NFL moving Rams-Vikings playoff game greatly benefits evacuees of California wildfires

Monday night's NFL Wild Card playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams was moved to Glendale, Arizona in the wake of the worsening conditions caused by several wildfires burning in the nearby area of the home team's city.

Since Jan. 7, at least four major fires broke out in the region just North of downtown Los Angeles, burning down thousands of structures and killing at least 24 people, per the Associated Press. Resources, including water from fire hydrants, have become sparse in the effort to battle the flames and an ever increasing number of evacuees have even less with almost nowhere to go.

Temporary housing is almost impossible to come by, with lack of properties and greedy land lords price gouging victims to take advantage of an already bad situation. However, the team and league's decision to relocate Monday's game has provided some form of relief for first responders and evacuees alike.

Moving the Vikings-Rams playoff game has freed up much needed resources for Los Angeles wildfire victims

SoFi Stadium, home of the Rams, lies in Inglewood which is roughly 15 miles to the Southeast of the nearest blaze (Palisades fire). An event as big as a playoff game takes up a lot of space and hundreds of people for security and other tasks.

Team president Kevin Demoff spoke to ESPN's Sarah Barshop for a report published Monday detailing the process his staff and the league went through to reach the decision to move the game.

"There's some things bigger than football, and we owe this to our community to make sure that this game can be played safely and not be a distraction," he said. "Heaven forbid a single home or car, or God forbid, a human life was lost because some asset was diverted to SoFi Stadium ... It's just not the right place to be holding the game."

Friday night after practice, once the decision was made to move the game to Arizona, the players and their families boarded planes to head Southeast. The total party amounted to 335 people and two dogs, per ESPN's reporting.

Per Demoff, moving the game out of Los Angeles freed up a huge amount of hotel rooms and emergency personnel that the city can now use for helping evacuees and fire victims.

"We're holding 500 rooms for the Minnesota Vikings and NFL officials and our team for the game," he said. "That room can go to evacuees if you make this decision [to move the game] now. And this was the right decision."

Demoff felt it necessary to put people ahead of football, voicing his concerns to the league that resources that normally would've gone towards the game were needed elsewhere.

Some things are bigger than sports and it's a refreshing sight to see the biggest and richest sport in the country refocus its priorities and get out of the way of those trying to do their jobs and help where it's needed most.