NFL moves Sunday's Bills-Browns game to Ford Field in Detroit

A winning football team will host a game at Ford Field this weekend.

The Buffalo Bills (6-3) announced Thursday that this Sunday's home game against the Cleveland Browns (3-6) will take place at Ford Field in Detroit, due to a lake-effect snowstorm in Western New York that's threatening up to four feet of snow.

In a Zoom conference with reporters, Ron Raccuia, Bills executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the decision was made shortly after hearing from Homeland Security around noon. The team made its announcement shortly after 4:15 p.m.

"That was the first time we had heard directly from (Homeland Security). Obviously, the National Weather Service has been weighing in. I've been in constant communication with (Erie) County executive (Mark) Poloncarz. The league has been totally involved, the networks have been involved," Raccuia said.

"It really builds up to a point where you have to make a decision, and today was that day."

Kickoff is at 1 p.m. The Week 11 matchup, originally scheduled to take place at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, will air on CBS. For those hoping to gain access to the game while the Lions are away, more information should be available on that shortly.

Bills general manager Brandon Beane said tickets will first go on presale for Bills season-ticket holders and app users, starting at 2 p.m. Friday. He did not specify when tickets will go on sale to the general public or give a specific price structure, but said the tickets will be "much less expensive" than normal tickets.

Ford Field has twice filled in as an emergency venue, most recently for a Bills home game against the New York Jets in 2014. The Bills won, 38-3. Tickets for that game were free of charge, with Bills and Lions season ticket-holders getting first priority. The general public was given the opportunity to get tickets a day later.

"They're still being worked out, what the price (are), but they're not going to be standard price — unless you're a Cleveland Browns fan," Beane joked.

Despite a last-minute change in venue for Sunday's game, the Bills will "try to keep a normal travel schedule" for both of their games in Detroit, Beane said, as if they were simply playing a normal road game prior to Thanksgiving.

The plan is for Buffalo to fly to Detroit on Saturday, head home after playing the Browns on Sunday, and then return to Detroit on Wednesday for their game against the Lions. Beane's hope is the storm's air travel limitations will be lifted by Saturday, although the team may need another on-the-fly adjustment should things change.

Ahead of the 2014 game, large amounts of snow forced some Bills players to be retrieved via snowmobile.

"We'll have all hands on deck. You know, I did hear about the snowmobiles — I don't have one myself, but if need be, we'll make sure we round some of those up and get the guys, and like I said, hopefully get on this flight on Saturday afternoon," Beane said.

There will be one abnormality, however: The Bills will use the away locker room for both games, even though they have the right to use Detroit's locker room — which is far more spacious — against the Browns.

"Our plan is to do everything kind of from the visitor's standpoint, just so (when) we come back here next Thursday to play, it'll all look the same for us, instead of switching one locker room to another," Beane said. "So, we'll do the sideline, the coaches' booth, everything — just so it's pretty normal for what we'll come back to when we play the Lions."

The Minnesota Vikings also were forced to play the New York Giants at Ford Field in 2010 after the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome’s roof collapsed. 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday issued a State of Emergency for at least 11 counties in western New York, warning of snow accumulations that could reach four feet. 

Football-reference.com lists the 2014 meeting between the Jets and Bills as having an attendance of 56,044. The Lions' team wordmark in both end zones and the logo at midfield were replaced by the Bills'. 

In both of the prior events of Ford Field being used as an emergency venue, the games were pushed to Monday to account for the team’s late change in travel. But due to the Bills having to return to Detroit for a Thanksgiving Day showdown with the Lions next Thursday, the league was under greater pressure to quickly accommodate.

The Lions will go on with their regularly scheduled road game Sunday against the Giants at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

nbianchi@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @nolanbianchi