Buffalo Bills News: Blizzard Buries Ralph Wilson Stadium, Team’s Game Against Jets Could Be Moved To Monday Night
The Buffalo Bills could be looking at playing a Monday Night Football game after a blizzard dumped several feet of snow on Ralph Wilson Stadium, with more still expected in the next several days.
This week Buffalo was slammed with a powerful but narrow band of snow, leaving areas south of the city digging out from upward of five to six feet of blowing snow. The snow came off Lake Erie in a relatively small area, producing only a dusting of snow in the city of Buffalo but several feet in Orchard Park, home of the Buffalo Bills.
The area has been placed under a state of emergency, with ban on travel in several towns. The situation has left many of the Buffalo Bills players snowed in, unable to make the team’s planned practice on Wednesday.
The stadium itself is buried in snow, with drifts extending over the entire playing field of the stadium, which is sunken to below ground level. The team’s long-time PR person told Peter King that it’s the worst storm he’s ever seen at the stadium.
The Buffalo Sabres were able to play a scheduled game on Tuesday, though the blizzard greatly impacted the contest. Only a few thousand fans were able to brave the weather, and even Sabres forward Patrick Kaleta was unable to get out of his house to make the game.
The Bills game, though still days away, could be different. The weather forecast calls for more snow on Wednesday and the possibility of several more feet on Thursday, meaning that digging out the stadium in time could be a difficult prospect. The team could also be impacted if players are not able to make it to practice on Wednesday.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Buffalo Bills said the plan is to go forward as scheduled.
“We are preparing to play this game at RWS at 1, just as we always have,” the team’s senior vice-president of communications Scott Berchtold told reporters.
But if another blizzard hits Buffalo before the weekend, some believe the Bills may have no choice but to move Sunday’s game to primetime on Monday or later.
