Gov. says Bills can have 6,700 fans at playoff game

ALBANY — A lucky 6,700 members of Bills Mafia will be able to watch their team live and in-person next month as the team competes in an AFC wild card game.

Gov. Cuomo said Wednesday that state officials and team leadership worked out a test-heavy pilot plan that could be replicated for other large gatherings in 2021 as COVID vaccinations continue and the general population reaches “herd immunity.”

“This is a pilot to find ways where we can smartly and safely reopen businesses,” the governor (photo) said during a news briefing in Albany. “It can’t be that we start 2021 with the expectation that the economy will open when the vaccine hits critical mass.

“We can’t take six months, nine months, 12 months of a closeddown economy,” he added.

Fans must undergo mandatory rapid testing prior to the game and the state will conduct contact tracing following the event to track anyone who contracts the virus, said Cuomo.

The Bills announced that tickets will be available beginning on Friday to season ticket holders who opted into purchasing tickets earlier this year. The 6,700 attendees will be spread throughout the 72,000-seat stadium in Orchard Park and must remain in specific sections with the people they entered with.

COVID tests will be conducted in the parking lot outside Bills Stadium for those who get tickets in the days leading up to the Jan. 10 game.

Everyone in the stadium for what will be the Bills’ first home playoff game in 25 years must wear a mask. No tailgating will be allowed outside the stadium.

Cuomo said he plans to get tested and attend the game as well.

How the state will apply the rapid testing model to other events remains unclear, but the governor said it’s “the key” to keeping the state’s economic engine running while vaccines are distributed throughout the next year.

The number of patients being treated for the virus in New York hospitals increased to 7,892 and another 144 New Yorkers have died from COVID, Cuomo said. Cases continue to rise as well, with 8.66% of results reported Tuesday coming back positive.