The Buffalo Bills’ wild-card playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, scheduled for Sunday, was moved to Monday due to the forecast of dangerous winter weather, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Saturday.
Hochul and other officials said they made the change for safety reasons. “We want our Bills to win, but we don’t want 60,000 to 70,000 people traveling to the football game in terrible conditions,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said at a news conference in suburban Buffalo.
Officials advised residents to stay off the roads starting at nightfall on Saturday, with a driving ban taking effect at 9 p.m. The match will now be played at Highmark Stadium on Monday at 4.30pm instead of Sunday at 1pm.
Hochul said she began talking to the NFL on Thursday about the possibility of having to reschedule the game.
The Bills are familiar with weather-related schedule changes. In 2022, a lake-effect storm led to Buffalo’s home game against Cleveland being moved to Detroit in November. A month later, a massive snowstorm forced the Bills to postpone their trip home, forcing them to spend the night in Chicago on Christmas Eve.