The following is a list of games that have been canceled and rescheduled by the National Football League (NFL) since 1933. While canceling games was extremely common prior to this date, since that year, the NFL has only canceled regular season games four times, two of them for labor disputes between the league and the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). Seven weeks of regular season games were canceled in 1982 and one week of regular season games was canceled in 1987. A contest between the Boston Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles on November 17, 1935 was canceled due to weather, and a 2022–23 Week 17 contest between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals was suspended and eventually canceled outright with 5:58 remaining in the first quarter following a critical in-game medical emergency to defensive back Damar Hamlin.
Preseason contests have seen comparatively more cancellations, since the games do not count in the standings. Two of these games, the 1974 Chicago College All-Star Game and the 2011 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, were canceled because of off-season labor stoppages that were resolved prior to the start of the rest of the preseason. Three games were canceled as the result of unsafe playing fields: a 1995 NFL preseason game between the San Diego Chargers and the Houston Oilers,[1][2] a 2001 preseason game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Philadelphia Eagles,[3] and the 2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.[4] Two preseason games in 2017 and 2021 were canceled for weather. At least one other announced game was discarded before it was officially placed on the schedule. The proposed China Bowl exhibition was to have been played in August 2007 but was postponed indefinitely before the 2007 schedule was released, with all plans for the game formally canceled before December 2008.
The league has run into other instances in which a game cannot realistically be played on its scheduled date, including weather-related rainouts and conflicts with college football or Major League Baseball over the use of shared stadiums. Unlike baseball, the NFL generally plays through even the coldest and most precipitous of weather unless such weather makes the stadium unusable or it becomes unsafe for spectators to attend the match. In such cases where a game cannot be played on its scheduled date, especially in the regular season, the league has the options of rescheduling the contest to any available day and, if the stadium cannot be used, relocating the contest to the opponent's stadium or a neutral site (usually another nearby NFL stadium or a suitably sized modern college football venue). Until the January 14, 2024 Steelers-Bills wild card playoff game, such measures have not been necessary for any individual game in the playoffs.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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sfgate.comwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Game canceled because of turf problem". USA Today. August 14, 2001. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
- ^ "Hall of Fame game canceled due to poor field conditions at Tom Benson Stadium". August 7, 2016.