Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills attempts a pass against the Kansas City Chiefs during the second half at Bills Stadium on October 19, 2020 in Orchard Park, New York. Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images
By Edward McKinley, Times Union
ALBANY — With positivity rates soaring to heights not seen since the dangerous days of the spring, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the Buffalo Bills will host nearly 7,000 fans at their stadium for their first-round NFL playoff game next week.
“I’m going to take my test and be out there to watch the game with you,” added Cuomo, who said he was a Bills fan.
Under the plan developed by the Bills, Cuomo’s Department of Health and a medical company that’s providing the tests, the Bills would allow 6,772 fans into the stadium for the game, which will be held either Jan. 9 or 10. Tickets will be available to season ticket holders starting Friday. Fans will pay $63 to be tested before the game; if they test positive, they would not be allowed into the stadium. (The ticket price would be refunded, but not the cost of the test.)
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Cuomo framed the program as a “pilot” that could establish a model for reopening other businesses in the future. The Bills game provides a good test, he said, because there is control over who is allowed into the stadium and it is outdoors.
“If it works there, can you do Madison Square Garden,” Cuomo said. “Can you do a theater on Broadway? Could you do a certain capacity on a restaurant, so restaurants could start to open safely?”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks to members of New York state’s Electoral College before voting for President and Vice President in the Assembly Chamber at the state Capitol in Albany, New York on December 14, 2020. -(AFP)HANS PENNINK/Getty
He did not elaborate on how hosting fans at an outdoor football game could provide lessons applicable to indoor dining or other businesses, but he said the runway for achieving a critical mass in vaccination is so long — potentially nine to 12 months — that a total shutdown until then is unfeasible.
“If your position is there’s nothing we can do while the virus is here, you’re going to really have to be digging through the rubble, my friend,” Cuomo said. “And I’m in the business of trying to avoid rubble and devastation.”
