New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is laying the groundwork for a rocking Bills Stadium next season.
On Thursday, Cuomo, sporting a tragic face mask with both Mets and Yankees logos on it, said baseball fans in New York City can watch their favorite teams in person this season. Capacity limits will be set at 20% to start, with the expectation to increase over time.
“I think you’re going to see the capacity increase, and the testing requirements decrease as we get more evidence,” said the embattled governor.
The Buffalo Bills are already counting on filling their stadium in 2021, tucking that piece of news in an announcement to season ticket holders this month. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Bills fans were unable to see Buffalo’s best football team in three decades play in person last fall.
That changed in January, when 6,700 members of "Bills Mafia" were allowed to attend the team’s Wild Card and Divisional Round contests. The experiment was an incredible success: only 1.5% of fans tested positive before the games, and no outbreaks were linked to the affairs.
While NFL teams below the Mason-Dixon line were hosting fans for most of the season, the Bills were the first team to pull off the feat in the Northeast. They established rigid COVID-19 testing and contact tracing protocols, and it worked. We’ve known all along COVID-19 is far less likely to transmit outdoors — especially when people are wearing masks and socially distanced. The Bills’ confirmed it’s possible to safely welcome fans into stadiums.
Of course, there are far greater than members of "Bills Mafia" being robbed the chance of seeing Stefon Diggs live — or body-slamming themselves through folding tables. But during our pandemic year, it’s OK to mourn lost experiences. After sitting through nearly 20 years of non-stop losing, it was a shame that Josh Allen’s greatness could only be seen through the lenses of TV cameras.
There’s reason to be optimistic about the fall. President Joe Biden said all adults will be eligible for a vaccine by May 1, leaving New York State four months to vaccinate the greater population before Week 1. Despite being one of the first governors to lock down, Cuomo has shown an appetite in recent months to reopening the economy, lifting restrictions on indoor dining and other activities.
The Bills are more than a sports team around these parts — they’re a cultural institution. Just as Manhattan has been empty without Broadway and live entertainment, we’ve been empty without a raucous sold-out crowd in Orchard Park.
We’re almost there.