Getty Images The Buffalo Bills' Highmark Stadium has been hit with winter storms in the past – and 2024 is no different.
Weather could affect multiple NFL wild card games this weekend, and one has already been postponed.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Saturday that the Buffalo Bills vs. Pittsburgh Steelers game on Sunday will be moved to Monday afternoon because of a serious winter snowstorm expected to hit Western New York. The game will now be played at 4:30 p.m. ET on Monday, before the Philadelphia Eagles vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers game at 8 p.m. ET. It will still take place at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.
I’ve been in communication with @NFL commissioner Roger Goodell regarding the dangerous conditions in Buffalo this weekend.
In consultation with our emergency response teams, @BuffaloBills leadership, and the NFL, the Bills game will be postponed to 4:30 pm Monday.
This development unfolded quickly, as reports about the storm included heavy snowfall, high winds and extremely low temperatures. As an extended precautionary measure, Hochul implemented a full travel ban in Erie County starting Saturday night.
Travel is going to be extremely dangerous in Western New York this weekend.
We are implementing a full travel ban in Erie County starting at 9pm tonight.
Everything seemed normal just on Jan. 11, though. While unsubstantiated reports claimed that the game could be moved from Buffalo to nearby Cleveland, Ohio, an NFL spokesperson said on Jan. 11 that – at the time – there had been “no discussions about making a change to the game’s status,” via WGRZ Buffalo. The Bills organization even offered to pay fans $20 an hour plus meals snow out of Highmark Stadium starting Saturday night.
But as the weather progressed negatively, the state of New York and the NFL took action.
What this means, too, is that both teams will get an extra day for the game. That doesn’t necessarily mean they can practice, though, considering the weather they’ll be dealing with on what was supposed to be there gameday.
Social media reaction to Bills-Steelers postponement
The responses for the postponement were a bit mixed. Some understood the reason being safety to and from Highmark Stadium in a snowstorm.
You’ve gotta remember the main reason for postponing a football game during a blizzard is not “we think it’s too cold to play football” but “we want to keep 80,000 people off the road during a blizzard so emergency services can deal with emergencies”
But others, like former NFL running back Le’Veon Bell, wanted to see a true snow game.
the game gettin moved is kinda wack not gonna lie .. snow games are the best games
And former NFL defensive end J.J. Watt noted that hypocrisy of purposely building a new stadium without a roof so that games could be played in the true weather conditions.
Honest question:
Wasn’t the argument for Buffalo’s new stadium not having a roof that football is supposed to be played in the elements?
This is multiple games in recent years that have been rescheduled due to weather.
Do we want the elements to be a factor or not?
However, both Bell and Watt understood the true reason for moving the game was because of travel safety concerns to and from the stadium.
Bills games have been moved/postponed before
Winter weather has affected Bills games in the past.
Buffalo’s Week 11 home match with the Cleveland Browns on Nov. 20, 2023, was moved to the Detroit Lions‘ Ford Field because of a massive snowstorm in Orchard Park, New York. The same thing happened in Week 12 of the 2014 season against the New York Jets when another snowstorm forced the game to be moved to Ford Field.
While Buffalo’s games have been moved an inordinate amount of times, the last playoff game to be postponed was actually another Steelers game, but it involved the Chiefs. The NFL pushed the start of the Chiefs-Steelers wild card game on Jan. 15, 2017, from 1:05 p.m. ET to 8:20 p.m. ET because of icy winds from Winter Storm Jupiter winter storm.
Chiefs vs. Dolphins also hit with bad weather
The Chiefs of this year are dealing with their own weather issues as well.
The wild card match between the Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins in Kansas City, Missouri, will be played in temperatures that could drop to as low as -5 degrees at kickoff, according to Accuweather.
That game is still on despite the frigid temperatures. A league official said that the Chiefs-Dolphins game wouldn’t be postponed because, “There are no public safety travel concerns for getting to the stadium for fans, the clubs, stadium personnel or public authorities,” according to ESPN Dolphins reporter Marcel Louis-Jacques. However, precautionary measures will be taken to ensure player, fan and staff safety, per Louis-Jacques, including additional winter weather protection gear for each team, warming stations and hand warmers for fans and a covered and heated field before the game.
Oddly enough, that still isn’t the coldest NFL ever. That award goes to the 1967 NFL Championship game, known as “The Ice Bowl.’ That game had temperatures of -13 degrees with -48 wind chill, according to the NFL.