The Bills sent a statement on Thursday to season ticket holders which says the club is planning on allowing a “limited amount” of spectators at the venue formerly known as New Era Field during the 2020 regular season. But there’s a twist.
Only if they’re allowed to.
As of July 1, New York State said professional sports teams were not allowed to have fans in stadiums as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic continues. That was the latest update for the Bills and other pro teams in the state. New York is currently in phase four of their re-opening, however, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been in no rush to hurry up opening.
Outside of sports team-related openings, Cuomo recently backtracked on letting bars only sell alcohol to patrons after previously being allowed to. With that in mind, don’t expect the state to rush opening for sports.
In regard to Thursday’s statement, here’s how that message read from the Bills:
Thank you for your continued support and patience through this unprecedented offseason. As we are well aware of New York State’s current guidelines for the return of professional sports, we are still in the process of planning for the possibility of a limited amount of spectators being able to attend games for the 2020 season. We understand that guidelines have continued to evolve in our state and we will maintain communication with the NFL and state and local government agencies to establish policies and procedures to create and maintain the safest possible environment should spectators be permitted.
In addition, the Bills released some guidelines for current season ticket holders, which states 2020 season ticket holders will have their seat location deferred to next season and they will keep their “seniority” in their season ticket purchasing operations.
If the Bills are able to get fans into the stadium, some of those may be sold as single game ticket sales throughout the season in one way or another, depending on how many people are allowed in the stadium.
From the Bills:
Season Ticket Members that apply money as an account credit will have exclusive access to 2020 single game ticket sales for available seats if spectators are permitted. We will have multiple single game ticket sales throughout the season as capacity is determined. In any limited spectator scenario, seating capacity in the stadium will be reduced, seat locations may change each game, and all members may not be able to purchase tickets for every game they want to attend. Additional ticket purchase limits and other restrictions will apply and be communicated before any ticket sales.
It was previously reported that the club was looking into different seating arrangements in their stadium. Those seating charts were for 15, 33, and 50 percent seating capacities.
For more from the Bills, click here for the release from the team.
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