The Buffalo Bills administered more than 5,000 COVID-19 tests Wednesday in their stadium parking lot as they prepared to host about 6,700 fans for Saturday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Bills team owner and president Kim Pegula told ESPN Wednesday in a telephone interview that the New York state government insisted that all fans and game day staff be provided with wanted to approve the plan to allow fans to enter Bills Stadium for the first time this season.
The team added a $ 63 surcharge to the price of game tickets to cover the cost of testing, and then sent appointment schedules to anyone who got tickets so they could try them out at the stadium site. the days before the match.
“It’s such a fantastic sports city, and this is our third year (of the last four) in the playoffs, but not having a home game (playoff) in 26 years is really special for the community,” Pegula said. “I’m amazed. Today we tested over 5,000 people and it went really well and we got it.”
Pegula said talks with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office have been held year-round, but that video footage of Bills fans at the airport to greet the team a few days ago weeks when he returned from Denver after winning the AFC East title helped in decision.
“Seeing those fans at the airport, part of the thinking process was,‘ If we don’t allow fans to come in, where will they go, and will that be safe for our community? ’” Pegula said.
The Bills studied other teams that have allowed gaming fans this year during the pandemic to try to figure out the best way to handle it. New York State officials attended a game in Pittsburgh earlier this year, when the Steelers allowed nearly 7,000 fans to enter, and state officials will be on hand Saturday to observe the procedures and their operation. The fact that the Bills may have fans in their divisional round game in case they beat the Colts and advance depends in part on how it goes on Saturday.
The state has said, “You can plan (for fans in a second playoff game), but there’s no guarantee,” Pegula said. “They want to see how this process works, in terms of using masks, entrance, exit, all that. So a lot of our messages sent to our fans are just really following current protocols. “
“Who would have imagined he would be excited to have 6,700 people in a playoff game?” Bills CEO Brandon Beane said in a phone interview Thursday morning. “But now we couldn’t be more excited.”