The NFL game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills will not be resumed having been suspended after Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field.
The Bills safety suffered cardiac arrest during Monday’s game in Ohio.
Although the 24-year-old remains in hospital, doctors said on Thursday that he has shown “remarkable improvement”.
The outcome of the game would have affected the play-off seedings so the NFL is considering staging the AFC Championship game at a neutral venue.
There is just one round of games left in the regular season, to be played this weekend, with the play-offs set to start on 14 January.
Not playing the Cincinnati-Buffalo game to its conclusion has no effect on which clubs qualify for the post-season, with both teams already assured of being among the top seeds from the AFC Conference.
However, an NFL statement says it creates “potential competitive inequities” through the play-offs as both teams will have played a game fewer than their rivals and a team’s record determines who has home advantage.
The team with the best record in a Conference also receives a bye in the first round of the play-offs. In the AFC, the top seeding is between the Bills, the Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs.
The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, and the competition committee have recommended playing the AFC Championship game at a neutral stadium if the participating teams have played an unequal number of games.
The winner of that game, scheduled for 29 January, will represent the AFC in Super Bowl 57 on 12 February.
“Our principles have been to limit disruption across the league and minimise competitive inequities,” said Goodell. “I recognise that there is no perfect solution.”
NFL clubs will consider the recommendation at a special league meeting on Friday, which Goodell says “addresses the most significant potential equitable issues created by the difficult, but necessary, decision not to play the game under these extraordinary circumstances”. (BBC)