Buffalo Bills on Wednesday administered more than 5,000 COVID-19 tests in their parking lot at the stadium as they prepare to host about 6,700 fans for Saturday’s playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts.
Bills owner and team president Kim Pegula told ESPN on Wednesday in a telephone interview that the New York government has insisted that all fans and game staff be tested if it approves the plan to allow fans to enter Bills Stadium for the first time. given this season.
The team added an additional $ 63 fee to the game ticket price to cover the cost of testing, then sent the scheduling hours to everyone who received tickets so they could be tested on the stadium’s website in the days before the game.
“It’s such a great sports city, and this is the third year (out of the last four) in the playoffs, but not having a home game (playoff) in 26 years, it’s really special for the community,” Pegula said. “I’m amazed. Today I tested over 5,000 people and it went really well and I succeeded.”
Pegula said talks with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office have been going on all year, but that video footage of Bills fans at the airport to greet the team a few weeks ago, when he returned from Denver after obtained the title of AFC East, helped in the decision.
“Seeing those fans at the airport, part of the thinking process was, ‘If we don’t allow fans access, where will they go and be safe for our community?’ Pegula said.
Bills studied other teams that allowed fans at games this year during the pandemic to try to figure out the best way to cope. New York state officials attended a game in Pittsburgh earlier this year, when they allowed access to about 7,000 fans, and state officials will be present on Saturday to follow the procedures and how it works. Whether the bills can have fans in their divisional game, whether they would beat the Colts and advance, depends in part on how it goes on Saturday.
“The state 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 goes, in terms of wearing the mask, getting in, going out. , all this. So a lot of messages to our fans have to really follow the protocols that are in place. “
“Who would have thought that you would be happy to have 6,700 people at a playoff game?” GM Bill Brandon Beane said in a telephone interview on Thursday morning. “But we couldn’t be more excited now.”