The Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers will not attempt to play through mounds of snow, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Saturday.
In a press conference with Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, Hochul announced Buffalo’s wild-card game has been moved from 1 p.m. Sunday to 4:30 p.m. Monday. The game will still be broadcast on CBS.
Snow is expected to fall heavily in the northtowns at 6 p.m. Saturday at 2 to 3 inches per hour overnight, in addition to wind gusts projected up to 65 mph, making travel nearly impossible. The storm is expected to travel south — Hochul announced a travel ban for all of Erie County at 9 p.m. Saturday — and hit the southtowns Sunday afternoon.
Most of the region is supposed to see 1 to 2 feet of snow through Monday. A winter storm warning took effect at 10 a.m. Saturday and is scheduled to run until 7 a.m. Monday for Erie, Genesee and Wyoming counties. It is scheduled to run through 3 p.m. Sunday for Niagara and Orleans counties.
Hochul said discussions with the NFL began Thursday about the possibility of moving the game and a decision was made when she received an update from the State Weather Risk Communication Center at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
“I recommended the safest posture be to move this game to Monday,” Hochul said. “It’s a holiday, there will not be that many people traveling. Sunday, we’ll have the whole evening and Monday afternoon to clear the roads and make sure they’re safe.”