Governor Kathy Hochul of New York declared on Sunday that the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers will play their 2024 wild card round game on Monday, without any further postponement.
According to Hochul, Monday’s temperatures should still be in the teens, but there won’t be the strong gusts and blinding snow that could endanger both players and spectators.
“We’re hoping that tomorrow will bring good karma to Buffalo, where it’s freezing outside. Go Bills, with that,” Hochul declared.
Due to strong winds and lake effect snowfall on Saturday, the NFL wild card payout game that was originally slated to begin at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday was rescheduled. Hochul also declared a travel ban on the county of Erie in Buffalo.
Snow covered western New York on Saturday, resulting in almost nil sight at the Bills’ Orchard Park stadium, Highmark Stadium. Before Monday’s game, the team went so far as to enlist the aid of supporters and locals to assist with shovelling snow in the stadium for $20 per hour.
Hochul stated at a press conference on Sunday afternoon, “We all know as Western New Yorkers how dangerous the triple threat is—the triple threat of icy cold temperature, with high winds and the blowing snow.” “The weather is potentially fatal. That’s precisely what’s happening right now in the area where Orchard Park would have hosted a football game today.”
“The game will be held,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz stated on Sunday.
The Kansas City Chiefs, led by Patrick Mahomes, will pay the Bills a visit when they defeat the Steelers. The Chiefs defeated the Miami Dolphins in the fourth-coldest game in NFL history on Saturday night.
