(Bloomberg) -- The Buffalo Bills are offering $10 per hour and tickets to this weekend’s game against the New York Jets to anyone willing to help shovel 220,000 tons of snow.
That is, of course, if they can make it to the National Football League team’s stadium with their shovels.
The Nov. 23 game at the Bills’ Ralph Wilson Stadium is still scheduled for a 1 p.m. kickoff, even though some areas near Buffalo have already received at least 5 feet of snow and a lake effect snow warning is in effect until tomorrow morning, according to the Weather Channel. Another 2 inches to 4 inches of snow per hour is expected in some areas today.
The Bills’ stadium is in Orchard Park, about 10 miles southeast of Buffalo, and shovelers will have to wait for a driving ban to be lifted before helping to clear the field.
“We estimate there are about 220,000 tons of snow that have to be moved between now and game day, and that’s with 4 feet,” Andy Major, the team’s vice president of operations, said yesterday on a conference call with reporters.
The Bills have been in communication with the NFL, which has the final say over whether to postpone or move the game, according to team spokesman Scott Berchtold.
“We’re preparing to play this game at the stadium for Sunday at 1 o’clock,” Berchtold said yesterday. “If things change because of snow, we’ll have to look at that.”
The Bills declined to discuss any possible scenarios other than the contest going off as scheduled. The Jets share MetLife Stadium with the New York Giants, who host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night, which means holding the game in East Rutherford, New Jersey, probably isn’t an option.
There’s no timeline for making a decision, Michael Signora, an NFL spokesman, said yesterday in a telephone interview. If there is a change to the schedule it would be made along with the team and local authorities, Signora said.
Warmer Temperatures
Freezing temperatures in Orchard Park are expected to rise during the weekend, with the forecast calling for a high of 46 degrees (8 degrees Celsius) at the scheduled kickoff time.
At least seven people have died in the storm, the New York Times reported last night.
The city is on the shore of Lake Erie and near Lake Ontario. The snow has been caused by lake-effect storms, which occur when cold air passes over relatively warm water.
Major said the team’s first priority, from a stadium operations standpoint, is to clear the field of snow, followed by the parking lots, concourses and seats.
“A foot of snow, you can probably clear the whole place in a three-day period,” Major said. “We have 4 feet now and another 3 coming.”
--With assistance from Brian K. Sullivan in Boston and Erik Matuszewski in New York.
Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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