Now What Happens?

[EDGECRUSHER]

Because the NFL would be taking away the home game from the #1 seed. So, at the very least try not to have 90,000 Bills fans in the parking lot jumping through tables and vomiting all over their 2008 Honda Civics.

[Dave Gray]

^LOL

[dolphins4life]

Doesn't this screw the Dolphins over because now the Bills have no motivation for Sunday?

[Spider-Dan]

Because the NFL would be taking away the home game from the #1 seed.

If that's what you believe, the appropriate remedy is to give the #1 seed their home game back, not to play the game at a neutral site.

The problem is that who the #1 seed should be is unclear... but the answer to that problem is not to rewrite the rules on what constitutes a neutral game.  For over 50 years, it has been determined that between the two conference champions, we ignore their records and play the game at a neutral site.  No effort is made to ensure parity in the crowd, even if this disparity benefits the team with a worse record.  This is the way "neutral site" games in the NFL work.

But you're saying this rule needs to be changed this one year, for this one game, which doesn't make sense.  Either change it for all neutral site games going forward, or leave it alone.  It's absurd to say that it's unfair for 90,000 Bills fan to be at the "neutral site" AFC Championship Game, but then totally reasonable for those same 90,000 Bills fans to be at the "neutral site" Super Bowl two weeks later.

[Spider-Dan]

Doesn't this screw the Dolphins over because now the Bills have no motivation for Sunday?

BUF absolutely has motivation for Sunday: if BUF loses to NE and KC beats LV, then KC wins the #1 seed outright, regardless of the outcome what the outcome of the BUF-CIN game could have been.  And if CIN also happens to win against BAL, it would be a BUF-CIN Divisional Round game that would have to be played at a neutral site (so CIN is equally motivated for Sunday).