Cardinals Owner Speaks on Opening Stadium for Rival Rams

The Arizona Cardinals welcome a familiar opponent to State Farm Stadium to host a playoff game.

Dec 28, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill reacts during the game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill says it was an easy decision to allow their NFC West rival Los Angeles Rams into State Farm Stadium for tonight's playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings.

The current wildfires spreading throughout California have forced the Rams to move their playoff game from SoFi Stadium to Glendale, AZ - along with numerous other facets of the organization ahead of an incredibly important game for Los Angeles Rams.

The Cardinals didn't hesitate to help, as Arizona sent over two of their 777 planes to help with transportation along with allowing Los Angeles to use their practice facilities ahead of tonight.

Speaking with NFL.com on the move, Bidwill says tonight's playing surface and environment will look a bit different.

"It might be a little painful to hear, 'Whose house? Rams House!,'" Bidwill said. "But our hearts are breaking with what's going on. ... It's what's best for the league, it's what's best for the team, and we have to do everything we can to make sure we have a great game."

Thanks for opening your doors to us, @AZCardinals. 🫶 pic.twitter.com/9zgyUabQdk

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 12, 2025

"It's always a good time to do the right thing," Bidwill added. "If we can do something to help ... maybe this is the only thing we can do. Let's put our energy into it and try to focus on it and make it a great experience, whether it's the players, their families or the coaches."

Bidwill said the Cardinals got ahead of the league's official announcement of the game being moved

"We shifted all of our attention even before the announcement to making sure that we were ready to go,"he said.

"We knew that the people in their organization have been going through tremendous stress, with their families and friends that were losing everything and we wanted to be as thoughtful as we could. And then we realized the families were coming. It was like, OK, that's a whole other layer to this."