The N.F.L. has taken the drastic step of moving its marquee game of the regular season, a showdown between the Chiefs and the Rams, to Los Angeles because of conditions of the field at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, where the game was scheduled to be played on Monday.
The N.F.L. and the N.F.L. Players Association sent inspectors to Mexico City this week to inspect the field, which was damaged by heavy rains, a concert and soccer matches.
The union was worried that players could get injured on the stadium’s new hybrid turf-grass field, which was installed this year.
“Until very recently, we had no major concerns,” Mark Waller, the N.F.L.’s executive vice president of international events, said in a statement. “But the combination of a difficult rainy season and a heavy multi-event calendar of events at the stadium have resulted in significant damage to the field that presents unnecessary risks to player safety and makes it unsuitable to host an N.F.L. game.”
The N.F.L. requires teams that give up a home game in the United States to play overseas to keep their home stadiums available. In this case, the Rams are the home team, so the Chiefs-Rams matchup will now be at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
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