The Bills are hoping fans can make a difference on the field — literally.
Buffalo is hiring snow shovelers to help get Highmark Stadium game ready for the Bills-Steelers wild card playoff matchup on Sunday with a winter storm looming in Western New York.
The Bills have partnered with Jani-King, an American cleaning company, to hire anyone over the age of 18 (or under 18 with proper working papers) at a rate of $20 per hour, starting Saturday at 10 p.m.
Workers will be able to take breaks in heated areas with complimentary food and drinks, though they have been asked to bring their own shovels, if possible.
Although snow hasn’t blanketed the field yet, temperatures are expected to drop on Saturday and Sunday, with the possibility of seven or more inches of snow and heavy winds this weekend, according to WGRZ.com, which might turn the playing field into a Winter Wonderland.
Despite a winter storm watch in effect for Erie County starting Saturday morning, the NFL has shot down rumors of moving the game to Cleveland.
“We are monitoring conditions as we do for every game, but there have been no discussions about making a change to the game’s status,” Brian McCarthy, the NFL’s vice president of communications, WGRZ.com.
This is nothing new in that part of New York, and the Bills have never let a little snow stop them before.
In 2022, the Buffalo community removed over 100,000 tons of snow from the team’s stadium before the Bills hosted the Dolphins during a major snowstorm in late December.
The process took 200-250 people over three days to clear the stadium, the team said in an in-house produced video.
Crews first cleared the field by plowing the snow to the sides and carting it away in trucks.
Fans cleared the 75,000 seats with hand shovels, which took two and a half hours per section, which totaled 275 hours of shoveling.