Marv Levy used to say once you develop the reputation as an early riser, you can sleep ‘til noon.
That’s kinda where Buffalo and their beloved Buffalo Bills are: it might never snow again, but Buffalo’s reputation as a snow globe on steroids is well established. Along with that, is the perception the snow is an advantage for the Bills, who are used to it.
That certainly looked to be the case in the Bills impressive 35-10 win over the injury riddled SF 49ers on a snowy field in Orchard Park. Josh Allen put on his cape and made plays, while the 49ers looked like they were miserable. What a game! The Bills clinch their 5th straight AFC East title while improving to 10-2, nipping at the heels of 11-1 KC for home field while owning any tie breaker by whipping the Chiefs.
Some things are imprinted in my mind. Allen diving for the pilon after taking the lateral from Amari Cooper for a TD. Who DOES that? Allen and HC Sean McDermott doing snow angels together on national TV. James Cook streaking past 49ers players who looked like they were in quick sand. Fans throwing snow balls in the air. At FG attempts. Ok that’s bad, but… Fans sitting in snow drifts. Bills players laughing and having fun. Fans who braved horrendous conditions just to get to the game reveling in joy.
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Did the snowy conditions help the Bills win this game?
They used to say that about the 90’s Bills, who are known for losing 4 straight Super Bowls, but who are also known for being an impressive 4-0 at home in AFC Championship games.
How much of this was the weather?
Not a lot, in my opinion.
Having Jim Kelly, Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed and friends were the main factor. Josh Allen, James Cook, Dion Dawkins, Khalil Shakir and others are why the Bills won. They were the better team, by far.
But does the reputation of being invincible at home in December and January help the Bills psychologically? No one will ever admit it, but I think there’s truth to that. It’s the same truth that make teams not want to play the Dolphins in September. They sit in the shade while the visitors sit in a sauna.
As construction of Buffalo’s new Highmark Stadium moves along on time but over budget, the debate just won’t die. Why the P*P$#@# aren’t we building a dome? Buffalo is one of America’s biggest snow magnets as it is, and yet the new stadium will remain in the area that’s hit hardest by Lake Effect snow every winter. When Lake Erie is “warm” – well above freezing – we know that most weather fronts with moisture move west to east over the lake and through the snow belt just south of Buffalo.
We get dumped on!
Right where the Bills play home games. Orchard Park can get 3 feet, while the city of Buffalo and north may not see a flake. You can actually see a wall of snow on the lake separating the edge of the snow storm from the city. It’s kinda ‘erieee’.
While I’m fine with the Bills building an outdoor stadium again, I’ve always wondered why more thought wasn’t put into this before Rich Stadium was built. They knew all about Lake Effect snow back in the 60’s too. There were actually plans to build a domed stadium in 1958 where Harbour Center is now, and it was going to house the Bills but hopefully major league baseball as well.
When Ralph Wilson bought the Bills, they played in the old Rockpile (War Memorial Stadium), but its capacity of under 40,000 wasn’t big enough. The Bills had to have a new stadium, and there were plans to build a domed stadium in Lancaster – also in hopes of landing MLB – but Wilson didn’t want it and Ralph got what Ralph wanted. He actually chose Buffalo over Miami, so he’d earned a little clout.
So eventually Rich Stadium was built in 1973, and along with a couple updates, the Ralph has been a tremendous home for the Bills.
Should the Bills have built a dome?
There are many valid arguments as to why the Bills should have built a dome, even if it couldn’t be downtown. The city’s infrastructure for ingress and egress would have needed massive improvements and was a non starter. However, a dome in OP makes sense. Elements don’t affect the game. Fans aren’t frozen in snow drifts. The stadium could be used year ‘round for other events.
Yes, it would have added about $300M more to the now almost $2B price tag. But a dome wouldn’t change the problem of getting to the stadium when the big storm hits. It doesn’t happen often, but only one time in recent Bills history has a game had to be moved, and that was two years ago when the Bills played a home game against the Browns in Detroit. Even if the Bills had a dome, that wouldn’t have changed.
Forget the argument however, that a dome might land Buffalo a Super Bowl. Not a chance. Buffalo just doesn’t have the luxury hotel space etc. demanded, not to mention the owners and media HATE cold weather Super Bowls. Covering SB26 in Minneapolis was by FAR the least enjoyable of all four SB’s. There have been some exceptions for various reasons, but you won’t see any cold weather cities used for SB’s anytime soon.
But whatever opinion you had before the game against the 49ers, you had to see that an outdoor stadium in Buffalo…is BUFFALO!! Keep in mind the Bills are the NFL’s favorite team in Europe, and among the top 3 in America. Millions of Bills fans all over the US and abroad LOVED every second of this game, and it no doubt made them home sick. You could have spent millions to promote Buffalo and fallen far short of the publicity.
Those of us who live here get it that it’s not for everyone, but it’s part of what make WNY to unique. We can take your snow jokes, as we watch you battle hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and earth quakes.
Josh Allen is the perfect player to lead this team, whether it’s 80 and sunny or 10 degrees and snowing.
These are the best of times, and the new stadium, keep in mind, will be better suited for the fans experience. More than half the fans will be sheltered. The new stadium is designed to deflect the wind around the stadium.
Many Bills fans will be priced out, which is happening all over the NFL, but that would have been true for a dome as well.
We’re a hardy bunch in Buffalo with a hearty football team. It’s also a fact that non dome teams are more mentally tough. Did horrible weather stop the Patriots? Packers? Chiefs? Eagles? Steelers?
We’re ready for anything!
Editor’s babble: Many thanks to Ed Kilgore for sharing his decades of Buffalo sports experience with our blog. You can also find Ed on Xwitter @Kilgore2Ed.
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In addition to all of this…the idea of building a dome stadium in Buffalo makes ZERO financial sense. By all credible accounts, a dome would have cost around $1 billion more that the current stadium (which is already over budget.) And for what end?
– The Super Bowl will never be played in Buffalo as it does not have enough hotel rooms and it’s not a winter vacation destination.
– There are no winter concert tours (probably because New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and DC don’t have domes either — and no tour that plays in 65,000-seat venues is missing those cities).
– There are no conventions that come to Buffalo that require seating for 65,000 people.
– Just keeping the heat on for 4.5 months a year would cost more taxpayer dollars—or Pegula dollars that could be used to improve the team—than anyone could justify spending.
Finally, don’t even get started on retractable roofs which—in addition to costing *another* billion dollars—are rarely used by the teams who have them.
In sum, the increased ticket costs will hit Bills fans hard enough…there is no conceivable reason for the Bills or its fans (or the people of New York State who aren’t Bills fans but still pay taxes) to pay for a dome stadium that would be as impractical as it would be saccharin.