You can count Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II as somebody that is against the idea of neutral site conference championship games in the future.
In fact, you might even say he hates it.
Rooney made that point clear on Thursday during his annual state of the Steelers address when he was asked about the topic.
The possibility of future neutral site championship games has been on the front-burner for the past couple of weeks after the possibility existed for a neutral site AFC Championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills. That was only the table after the Bills had their Week 16 game postponed following the collapse of safety Damar Hamlin on the field. That game was never completed, leaving the Bills with one fewer game played than the Chiefs, a fact that impacted home field advantage in the AFC playoffs.
To make things more fair, the NFL decided any Chiefs-Bills game in the playoffs would be held at a neutral site in Atlanta. When the NFL sold more than 50,000 tickets for that potential game the league seemed downright ecstatic. That led to speculation that the league might want to see all conference championships games go in that direction.
But the fact Rooney is so against it is probably not a good sign for the hypothetical idea.
Rooney is one of the most influential owners in the league, and his positions and opinions will carry a lot of weight. If he is not on board, there is a good chance many other others won’t support the idea either.
And why would they?
Having home field advantage in the conference championship game is a massive advantage and adds a significant amount of incentive for teams to win in the regular season.
It is also one of the best experiences a football fan can have, arguably even better than being in attendance for a Super Bowl. Because if your team wins you get to see them clinch a spot in the Super Bowl. The result is one of the most electric atmospheres in all of sports. It is an amazing experience for everybody involved.
The NFL putting that idea on the table for the Buffalo-Kansas City game was a fair compromise given the unfortunate circumstances this season. It never needs to go beyond that.
