A team never wants to play on the road. If every NFL organization had their way, they’d play 17 home games a season. Obviously, that’s just not possible, but this week we saw the Buffalo Bills lose one of their eight home games due to the insane amount of snow that fell near Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.
After receiving up to 77″ of snow, there was no way the Bills could play their regularly scheduled game at home. This forced the NFL’s hand, causing their Week 11 matchup with the Cleveland Browns to be relocated to a different football stadium.
The league was able to secure Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions, which is an indoor stadium. In turn, the Browns vs Bills game in Detroit was officially set in stone, even if it was set to kick off in an entirely new location than originally scheduled.
While both teams were likely just happy with the chance to play the game on their schedule, the financial impact of Buffalo losing a home game can’t go ignored.
Buffalo Bills lose a big piece of the financial pie
While the fans may be the biggest losers in this whole ordeal, after hoping to attend a Bills game in person, in Buffalo, only to find out the game wasn’t going to take place at home at all, moving 281 miles away to Detroit instead.
Yet, it’s really the entire Buffalo area that feels the impact here. Not only are fans directly affected, but think of all the local establishments, from bars to restaurants, hotels, and several other local businesses, who will now miss out on thousands of dollars in revenue.
While the NFL truly didn’t have a choice, as weather is unpredictable and Mother Nature always wins, it’s hard not to think of the Bills Mafia locals.
Then, there’s also the organization itself, who, according to Michael Petro, the Bills are set to lose roughly $8 million in ticket revenue. While others, like Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, have pointed out that the Bills will be able to recover some of this lost revenue from what was sold at Ford Field, it won’t come close to the initial losses.
At the end of the day, team owners are million and billionaires. Losing a few million is like a drop in the ocean, but for the rest of us, eight million in losses sounds like a death blow.
Related: Buffalo Bills cancel practice, meet virtually during blizzard