A neutral location won’t stop fans of the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs from filling up the stadium in another playoff meeting. Even before the matchup has been made official, most of the tickets for a possible 2023 AFC Championship Game between the two teams have already been sold.
It took just 24 hours for more than 50,000 tickets to be sold for a Bills vs. Chiefs AFC Championship Game, according to NFL.com. If the teams face off with the conference title on the line, the game will take place at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Because the Bills’ no contest with the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 17 allowed Kansas City to earn home-field advantage until the Super Bowl, the league announced that an AFC Championship Game featuring the Bills and Chiefs would be played on a neutral field. The league chose Atlanta to host the contest.
More than 50,000 tickets were purchased by the Bills’ and Chiefs’ season-ticket holders in the first 24 hours they were for sale for the if-needed, neutral-site AFC Championship Game. Bills fans would be seated on their side of the field and Chiefs fans on the other.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 20, 2023
Buffalo and Kansas City season-ticket holders who purchased AFC Championship Game tickets for a potential home game have been given the option of buying seats for a matchup in Atlanta. The fan bases have combined to buy up more than 70% of the available seats at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Chiefs and Bills have some work to do before going to the AFC Championship Game. Kansas City hosts the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday afternoon in the divisional playoffs. One day later, the Bills welcome the Bengals to Buffalo for their divisional playoff game.
Both the Chiefs and Bills are favored to win their respective matchups.
If the Chiefs end up facing the Bengals in the AFC Championship Game, Kansas City will host the contest at Arrowhead Stadium. The Bengals beat the Chiefs in Kansas City in last year’s AFC Championship Game, coming back from an 18-point deficit to punch their ticket to the Super Bowl.
If the Bills face the Jaguars, the AFC Championship Game will be played in Buffalo.
It’s been 29 years since the Bills hosted a conference title game. Buffalo beat Kansas City 30-13 in the 1994 AFC Championship Game. The Bills would go on to lose their record fourth straight Super Bowl.
Kansas City and Buffalo are developing one of the NFL’s best rivalries in recent years. The Chiefs beat the Bills 38-24 in the 2020 AFC Championship Game. Kansas City outlasted Buffalo for a 42-36 overtime victory in last year’s divisional playoffs. The Bills won the rematch during the 2022 regular season.
The Chiefs have hosted the AFC Championship Game in all four of Patrick Mahomes’ seasons as the starting quarterback.
Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images
