With feet of snow expected for Buffalo this weekend, the NFL will relocate Week 11’s Browns-Bills matchup. The game is being moved to Detroit, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com reports (on Twitter).
The NFL announced earlier Thursday it was monitoring this game for a potential relocation, and Cabot reported earlier other venues were considered. But the Bills’ Thanksgiving game against the Lions offered some convenience. While this will cost Buffalo a home game, the contending team will now play two games in the Motor City in a five-day span.
Although the 2020 and ’21 seasons reintroduced rescheduling, the Bills having already had their bye week and being set to play on Thanksgiving removed that option from consideration. From Thursday through Saturday, the forecast calls for up to four feet of snow for the Buffalo area. Snow games obviously have a prominent place in NFL lore, with the Bills — including a 2007 game against the Browns — partaking in several such events. But “major to extreme impacts” are expected for this region, prompting the league to act.
The 17-game schedule being in its second season means NFC teams have the additional home game; Thursday’s news will reduce the number of Bills home tilts from eight to seven. The Bills will now be away from home for the next three games, with a Patriots matchup in Foxborough set for Dec. 1.
It’s the sensible play. But man I would have watched every second of a game in 4 feet of snow and counting.
You wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near the stadium.
Agreed!!
I went to a Bills-Browns game in 2007 in a blizzard and despite the low score (8-0), it was awesome.
I don’t recall the year, but I drove over 150 miles each way on I-80 through a continuous blizzard to a Steelers-Jets game. Jets won 6-0, and for time context Curtis Martin (who coincidentally is in the same high school graduation class as me) was playing.
It was simultaneously one of the most fun and the most stupid things I’ve ever done.
At least Detroit gets to see a good team.
Derp!
2 weeks in a row.
Should have let them play in the snow. Blizzard bowl.
Sure, but playing the game was actually a secondary concern. Travel and resources were far more important considerations. Think about the first responders needed in and around an active pro sports venue, and how they could be better used during a declared emergency.
Not so much police/fire/EMS as keeping roadways clear. You can’t resupply stores when trucks are banned from the I-90 Thruway.
The weather bureau and Gov. Hochul — who’s from the Buffalo area — made the NFL’s decision the correct call.
Horse… Few years back the thruway was close due to an unforcasted three feet that dropped in an hour. It was cleared and operational by dark.
Grew up in the snow belt. They have equipment to handle the conditions, a pre plan for the snow removal, and pre determined routes for emergency needs. Trust me you do not want to block and emergency route, have watched a plow remove a car. It’s just a simple fact that lake effect snow falls in the area, its delt with, life goes on.
I know for a fact that right now…. snowmobiles are being tuned up. My brother’s garage is a very busy place right now and he is not the only one in the neighborhood getting set to have fun.
Ford Field now gets 10 regular season games. Why it’s like having the home team make the playoffs.
Yeah, but out of those 10, how many good ones?
The Bills should use the visitors locker room and leave all the gameday equipment there for the Thanksgiving game. Flying the players and personnel home and back is easier given the short distance, but only if the Buffalo airport can handle it. They should probably prepare to spend the whole week in Detroit just in case.
Sunday’s game remains Buffalo’s home game with the Bills wearing their blue tops and using the home-team sideline. Same thing happened in 2014 when a game vs. the Jets had to be moved on very short notice due to a lake-effect blizzard like the one Buffalo’s now getting.
The Bills will be in their white tops and use the visiting-team sideline for Thanksgiving Day.
Of course it’s a home game for the Bills. That’s not in dispute. But they can be the home team and still use the visitors locker room.
The quality of the home and visitor’s locker rooms can be wildly different. The KC visitor’s locker room is a disgrace.
I’m actually more concerned with the weather forecast for Regina Saskatchewan this Sunday. The CFL championship game should be more entertaining than the Browns/Bills match.
Doubtful
I’ve been wondering this: what happens to the ticket revenue for this game? Obviously the Bills will have to refund or replace the tickets for fans who were going to this game.
But do they get a share of the revenue since they’re the “home” team and to balance out their losses, or do the Lions get the revenue since it’s their stadium? Does the league get it, do the teams split it, or what?
When Detroit hosted a Vikings game, back when the dome roof collapsed, tickets to the game were free. Not sure if that’s the case here, or not, but just throwing that out there.
Yet the Governor of New York wouldn’t give Buffalo enough money for a domed stadium.
It’s a terrible idea. Buffalo fans are among the league’s best and they take pride in having supported the team since 1960 in all kinds of weather. Tradition and culture matter. The only worse idea would be building a domed stadium for the Packers.
The soft people in the south might need domes, but Northerners are tough.
That’s why they won The Civil War.
Being farther north doesn’t seem to be giving Putin an advantage in that civil war.
Have you ever seen what happens when an AFC East team plays in Miami in September? They melt.
Dome or Open air, this game would have been moved regardless for the safety of fan, players and workers.
Nothing beats snow football. I’ll never forget 2005 Steelers vs Bears at Heinz field. The Bus was rolling! I hope certain teams, especially Steelers, Packers, Bills never get domes. Cold weather is built into these teams’ history. The Bears are getting a dome right? That’s not Chicago football. I hope they don’t.