More than 50,000 tickets were sold in the first 24 hours for a possible AFC Championship Game in Atlanta, the NFL said Friday.
The contest would be played Jan. 29 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium only if the top-seeded Kansas City Chiefs and second-seeded Buffalo Bills both win their divisional round games this weekend.
Season-ticket holders of the Chiefs and Bills were given priority to purchase tickets.
The neutral-site conference title game was chosen by the NFL in response to the cancellation of a Jan. 2 contest between the Bills and host Cincinnati Bengals after Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field due to cardiac arrest.
The contest was initially suspended that night before being postponed. The NFL decided later that week that the game wouldn’t be played, leaving the Bills (13-3) to play one fewer regular-season game than the Chiefs (14-3).
If the two teams had finished the season with the same record, Buffalo would have hosted the AFC Championship Game due its regular-season win at Kansas City.
The Chiefs host the fourth-seeded Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday, while the Bills host the third-seeded Bengals on Sunday. If either Kansas City or Buffalo lose this weekend, the highest-remaining seed will host the AFC title game.
The NFL said ticket purchases will be refunded if there is no neutral-site game.
–Field Level Media
