As the canopy is completed on top of the Buffalo Bills new stadium, the days of the team calling for snow shovelers to help clear the stadium may soon become a thing of the past.
That’s because the $2 billion stadium under construction in Orchard Park shouldn’t present the same problems the current one does with snow removal after big storms.
The canopy and several other key elements of the new venue may eliminate the need for the team to enlist armies of snow shovelers to clear the stands when a storm hits during the days leading up to a Bills home game.
Buffalo Bills vs Pittsburgh Steelers
Workers shovel the stairs at Highmark Stadium on Jan. 15, 2024. Joshua Bessex/News file photo
The canopy – the fifth and final level of the stadium, will cover almost 65% of the stadium’s seats and stop a good deal of the snow from falling inside. The current Highmark Stadium, built in the early-1970s, has a wide-open bowl, with very few spots that offer overhead coverage.
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“The whole process will be more efficient, in addition to the process not having to be as elaborate in terms of how much snow we’ll have to remove,” said John Polka, vice president of stadium development for the Bills.
The reduction in the amount of snow that can fall inside new Highmark Stadium, and much of it being relegated to the lower level, should make it manageable for the Bills to rely on snow removal contractors and their own staff to get the work done without the public’s help.
Two years into the approximately three-year stadium construction project, the metal decking of the canopy has been completed. Just below the canopy, a temporary scaffolding structure is up and hanging to provide access so that workers can place the speakers, lights and snow melting system and concrete incasing for the roofing.
Right now, the Bills use snow removal company ABM to lead the process. But in 2024 alone, the team had to ask the public for help with snow removal twice, before home playoff games against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs, and then again in November before a Sunday night contest against the San Francisco 49ers.
Some additional factors that will help to make the process easier include:
A wider track of around 12 to 13 feet for vehicles to operate on inside the new stadium. The current track around the field is narrower because of how tight the field is to the ring wall, slowing the transport of the vehicles dumping the snow.
The new stadium will have two tunnels inside, allowing dump trucks to enter one way and exit another. The current stadium has one tunnel.
Wind confusion technology and the new orientation of the bowl should also help minimize snow swirling inside the stadium and creating drifts.
The new stadium will be wrapped in a perforated metal exterior that will absorb some of the wind flow. The shape of the exterior and roof is designed to help push wind flow up and over the stadium – not into it. The rotated field orientation to north-south from the current east-west orientation of Highmark Stadium will also help in reducing the impact of the elements.
Buffalo Bills vs Pittsburgh Steelers
Mike Uba, of Buffalo, shovels snow from the seats at Highmark Stadium on Jan. 15, 2024. Design elements of the new Bills stadium may mean there will be no more need for the team to recruit volunteers from the public to clear snow from the stands. Joshua Bessex, News file photo
Unlike the canopy and the natural grass field – where snow melting systems are being installed — there will not be a snow melting apparatus in the stands, so the seats that aren’t covered will be exposed to the elements, including the snow.
But the lower level will be the easiest part of the stadium to remove snow and truck it out, Polka said.
Clearing the upper level is the most time-consuming part of snow removal as the snow needs to be put on a conveyor belt and whisked down through the lower levels before it gets to the dump trucks.
“The big difference is we’re not going to be doing it for the entirety of the stadium,” Polka said. “We’ll be focused on really the 100 level, and if we’re only dealing with the 100 level, it makes a huge difference.”
The expectation is that the team will be able to handle snow removal with a set crew and contractors, but Polka said the Bills operations team is still working through what the plan will look like at the new stadium.
However, he did not rule out the need to call for some snow shovelers if the snow that falls is significant, like some of the recent lake-effect storms over the past decade that have disrupted the Southtowns.
“It will be completely dependent on the weather event and the timing,” Polka said.
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