In news that is only surprising because it took the NFL so long to come to this decision, the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets will definitely not be played in Buffalo on Sunday.
NFL spokesman Michael Signora had this rather obvious statement prepared for the announcement.
“Due to public safety concerns in light of the ongoing weather emergency in Western New York, Sunday’s Jets-Bills game will not be played in Buffalo,” Signora said in a statement. “We are in the process of rescheduling and relocating the game as part of Week 12. We will provide additional information as soon as possible.
“We have been in contact with the public authorities and we realize the importance of all available public safety resources being available for the community at this difficult time. We are also in discussions with the team and the Red Cross on ways the NFL can support the community through this weather disaster.”
While the Bills had offered to pay people to shovel snow in the stadium in preparation for Sunday, cancelling the game in Buffalo is the right course of action (according to the New York Daily News, no fans took the Bills up on their offer on Thursday). To clear the stadium for play, the Bills had estimated that they would have had to move 220,000 tons of snow. Picking a different date seems more practical.
There's a stadium somewhere in there. #BuffaloSnow
MORE PHOTOS: http://t.co/F4UmXaYVGR pic.twitter.com/6JVxzba2dW
— Buffalo Bills (@buffalobills) November 20, 2014
Detroit and Washington are reportedly being considered as sites for a makeup game. As for a time, it is possible that the game is moved to Monday. The extra day would allow the Bills to get in an extra day of practice, which they could use considering that the team was forced to cancel a Thursday practice to comply with the area’s ban on driving.
