Because of the smoke-filled skies over the East Bay from the deadly Camp Fire in Butte County, the NFL was reportedly ready to postpone the Raiders game in Oakland on Sunday and move it to Dallas on Monday night.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the league discussed having the Raiders and Chargers fly to Dallas and play at the Cowboys' AT&T Stadium on Monday night, if conditions in the East Bay had gotten worse.
The conditions were bad enough to prompt the Raiders to pass out masks to fans who wanted them Sunday to help minimize the effects of the smoke.
As of 10 a.m. Sunday, the Air Quality Index (AQI) in Oakland was 164. Air quality officials consider any AQI reading over 150 to be unhealthy. Although there's no official NFL guideline for air quality, the NCAA calls for schools to consider removing any "sensitive athletes" from competition when the AQI reading is above 100. The NCAA also calls for games to be called off when the AQI is 200 or above.
Although the air quality in the East Bay still wasn't ideal Sunday, the NFL felt conditions would be safe enough to have the teams play in Oakland. It was also determined the Rams would still play the Seahawks in Los Angeles on Sunday, despite a pair of raging wildfires in Southern California.
"We are monitoring conditions in California and are in close communication with the clubs and local authorities," said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy in a statement Saturday night. "At this point, both the Los Angeles Chargers-Oakland Raiders game and the Seattle Seahawks-Los Angeles Rams game will kick off as scheduled."
The league made sure extra oxygen tanks were available on both sidelines for the game, Fox-TV report.
This was the second consecutive year a Raiders-Chargers game in Oakland was in some danger of being postponed. Last October, the NFL was preparing to move the Raiders' game against the Chargers to a different venue because of stifling smoke from the catastrophic Wine Country fires.
Four days before the Raiders were scheduled to play the Chargers a year ago, the AQI in some parts of the East Bay reached 187.
One interesting aspect about news of the Raiders game possibly moving to Dallas to perhaps consider: Could Cowboys owner Jerry Jones extend a similar invitation to the Las Vegas-bound Raiders and Mark Davis to play any games in Texas next year? After all, the Raiders have reportedly threatened to not sign a one-year lease to play a final season in Oakland if the city follows through on a proposed lawsuit to have the team pay the outstanding bill for stadium improvements made in 1994.
