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Alaina Getzenberg, ESPN
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – – Another home playoff game for the Buffalo Bills, another lake effect snowstorm.
A second snowstorm in a week brought Orchard Park, where Highmark Stadium is located, over 2 feet of snow from midweek to Friday ahead of the Bills hosting the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday (6:30 p.m. EST, CBS). While the Bills were able to get through the practice week despite the snow, the team did reach out to fans once again to help shovel snow out of the stadium.
A call for shovelers for a second straight weekend went out Thursday night with shovelers asked to arrive at 2 p.m. on Friday. Fans lined up to assist in the efforts. Shovelers are paid $20 an hour and food and drink are always provided in addition to a warming area for breaks. The team continued to ask for more shovelers throughout the day on Saturday.
“It’s a team effort. It’s a community effort. We are so lucky and thankful for Bills Mafia coming out and helping us with the snow shoveling,” Andy Major, Bills vice president, operations and guest experience, said on Friday.
We’re almost there!
We need shovelers to help finish up snow removal to get Highmark Stadium ready for tomorrow: https://t.co/RrZ6jux79r pic.twitter.com/SZCjfkjhWJ
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) January 20, 2024
The timing of this snowfall allowed the Bills more of an opportunity to take care of the snow in the stadium. Last week’s wild-card matchup vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers was postponed a day due to the storm in the area, giving the team much less time to get the stadium ready.
While the pathways around the stadium were cleared before Monday’s game, many of the seats remained covered in snow.
“There’s no sugarcoating this. There’s 5-plus, maybe 6 feet of snow in our stands right now from before the last game until today,” Major said. “So, there’s a boatload of snow everywhere and we need all the help we can get. So, I don’t think we’re surprised at all, especially now when we have the time that we have. Usually, the call for this type of thing is much better when there’s not a driving ban and it’s not midnight. So, we don’t have those things working against us this week.”
In addition to fans helping shovel, contractors and vendors with equipment are working to get the stadium and surrounding parking lots ready for the game. There is an expectation for more than 1,200 additional parking spaces than the last playoff game.
Major said they have spoken with other teams that experience snow about how they prepare the stadiums for events.
In non-snow-related news, on the potential of Taylor Swift attending the game, Major said: “Someone I think said that she’s been to nine of Kansas City’s games, so we expect her to be here somewhere.”