Paris Police Order Moves PSG-Lyon to Monday; NFL Keeps Steelers-Saints on Sunday at Stade de France

Since rioting and looting swept Paris and other French cities on Oct. 17, the fallout has moved from the streets to the sports calendar. The latest change came today, Oct. 23: the Paris Police Prefecture prohibited the Paris Saint-Germain vs. Olympique Lyonnais match scheduled for Sunday night.

The Ligue de Football Professionnelle said it "acknowledges the order issued by the prefecture of police" and rescheduled the game, in agreement with broadcaster Ligue 1+, for Monday, Oct. 26, at 8:30 p.m. at the Parc des Princes. It had been set for 8:45 p.m. Sunday, hours after the NFL game ends.

The NFL game stays

The league is not budging. An NFL spokesman told OutKick and Fox News Digital that the Pittsburgh Steelers-New Orleans Saints game remains on schedule, and that the PSG decision does not change it.

Kickoff at Stade de France in Saint-Denis is 2:30 p.m. local time, 9:30 a.m. ET, on Sunday. Around 80,000 fans are expected. It will be the first NFL game ever played in France.

Commissioner Roger Goodell, Saints owner Gayle Benson and Steelers owner Art Rooney II met French President Emmanuel Macron for a roughly two-hour lunch at the Élysée Palace today. A league source said the agenda covered game security, the readiness of Stade de France and the growth of flag football in France. Fox News Digital also reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Goodell the game "will be fine."

Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said today he believed the NFL would have called off the game if conditions were unsafe. In a statement earlier this month, the NFL said it was working "closely with local authorities and partners on all operational and security matters" and that there had been "no disruption or impact at league sites."

What police are dealing with

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced today that about 70,000 security personnel will deploy across France this weekend. He warned that calls for violence and looting were circulating on social media. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Oct. 20 that troops would reinforce police for what he called a "massive" operation around Saturday's demonstrations. Partial curfews have been ordered in parts of Paris and other cities.

The Louvre and several other Paris museums will close Saturday. Art Basel Paris, the city's biggest annual art fair, will shut two days early because of protest risk.

The Saturday demonstrations are expected to start at Place de la Bastille, roughly 10 km from Stade de France. The PSG home ground is on the opposite side of the city, in the southwest.

The Oct. 17 violence followed weeks of mostly peaceful student protests and broader marches over living costs, fuel prices and school conditions. That day, 110 marches drew about 550,000 people nationwide. Another estimate put the figure as high as 800,000. Shops were burned and looted, and city halls and public buildings were hit. Olympique de Marseille and Lille both said their club stores were looted.

Other fixtures shuffled

PSG's match is not the only one affected. Toulouse's home game against Troyes moved from Saturday to Sunday at the request of local authorities. Le Progrès reported that Montpellier-Red Star in Ligue 2 was pushed from Saturday to Monday at 8:45 p.m. Other Ligue 2 games were also shifted at police request.

Both PSG and Lyon had asked for a switch for several days, according to Le Progrès. The league did not grant it until the prefecture ordered it.

The new slot collides with the Ballon d'Or ceremony in London on Monday evening. Ten PSG players are among the 30 nominees, including 2025 winner Ousmane Dembélé. PSG and Lyon enter the weekend level on 14 points at the top of Ligue 1.

Questions about the NFL's plan

Not everyone is comfortable with the league's decision. Yahoo Sports writer Matt Reed called the plan to rely on enhanced security "risky" given the nature of the riots. He cited Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio, who noted that moving the game would not be ideal but looks feasible. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley, which hosted NFL games the past three weeks, are not in use this weekend.

The league has given no sign it is considering that option. Its own statement is the opposite: preparations continue as scheduled.

The two events now share a police force that is being stretched across the region. The prefecture has barred a domestic league match at the Parc des Princes and not the NFL game in Saint-Denis. Saturday's protests will show whether the 70,000-strong deployment holds before Sunday's 2:30 p.m. kickoff.