ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Apparently, not enough people took up the $20-per-hour offer.
The plan for removing multiple feet of snow from the 71,000-plus seats at Highmark Stadium in advance of Monday’s playoff game evidently was to accept those willing to shovel for as long as they pleased.
But by the time kickoff between the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers approached, it was obvious that tens of thousands of seats would remain covered by the time ticketed fans showed up.
buncha buffalo macgyvers here makin their own seats pic.twitter.com/QwqiwOyAWU
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) January 15, 2024
Monday’s game was delayed 27 1/2 hours from its original 1 p.m. Sunday start because of a heavy band of lake-effect snow that blanketed the suburban Buffalo area. By Monday, the sustained winds of around 30 mph with gusts of 50-60 mph had subsided. Up until about 90 minutes prior to the 4:30 kickoff, in fact, skies were blue and the sun shined in the Orchard Park area. That left the snowbanks that lined highways and parking lots glistening and easily visible several feet high.
“Hey honey our seats are in this- NO, this row… seats 6-7, I’m sure they are right down… there…” pic.twitter.com/T3P1awIXE4
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) January 15, 2024
Not long after 3 p.m. Monday, however, the skies turned gray. More snow had been forecast for the game — albeit nowhere near the 2-3 feet that had fallen Saturday and Sunday. The winds had died down significantly, too.
One problem: Several tons and hundreds of thousands of square feet of snow had to be removed.
if I don’t tweet live updates of the game you’ll know it’s bc I’m behind a glass wall of snow … pic.twitter.com/4MyUykKnyZ
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) January 15, 2024
Workers did an excellent job clearing the field, which was pristine in its green artificial turf and its painted yard lines, sidelines and end zones in clean view.
The seats, though, were a different story. Early Monday afternoon, only a sporadic few — perhaps a couple dozen — shovelers were in the stands and more than half the exposed seats remained covered.
With more people in the stadium, it has become an assembly line of sorts removing the snow. pic.twitter.com/54FH4ude8j
— Joe Rutter (@tribjoerutter) January 15, 2024
When gates opened to ticket-holders at 2:30 p.m., many encountered seats that had been untouched. Some used shovels. Some came armed with cardboard or blankets to sit on. Some moved snow by hand — others, by turning themselves into a human plow.
In the upper-level sections behind the end zones, fans moved snow to the glass roofing above club-seating areas of the lower deck.
The game started as scheduled at 4:30 p.m.
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