CLEVELAND — As an historic snow storm batters Buffalo, the Cleveland Browns prepare to do battle with the Bills on Sunday… in Detroit. Prompted by the winter storm, the rare neutral site game in Detroit on Sunday upended the plans of many Browns faithful and prompted a long but manageable line Friday afternoon for tickets.
Amid an early winter storm that is forecast to dump as much as four feet of snow in Buffalo through Sunday, the NFL announced Thursday that the game would be held in Detroit out of an abidance of caution. According to league and team officials, those that purchased single-game tickets would receive refunds within the next 7-10 business days if purchased through Ticketmaster or the NFL Ticket Exchange. Fans that purchased tickets through the Bills ticket office would start seeing refunds hit their accounts on Dec. 2.
Refunds will be issued to the credit card used for the original purchase. Tickets purchased for the now-relocated game in Buffalo are not transferrable to the game in Detroit.
Mark Hatfield and his group of friends had been planning for months to road trip out to Buffalo. Their plans of perusing around the city on Saturday night and tailgating on Sunday morning are now buried under multiple feet of snow.
“We were going to wake up and tailgate with those crazy Buffalo Bills fans — which they are crazy and fun — a lot of fun,” Hatfield said. “Obviously, Mother Nature decided that we weren’t doing that. I’ve never dealt with this kind of situation. I go to a lot of Browns games and travel. We’ve been to the Jets stadium for a Browns game, Tennessee, Cincinnati, all over the place. We’ve never really run into trouble like this.”
Fortunately for Hatfield and his crew, the last-minute audible came with relative ease. They were able to quickly re-book their accommodations and were in line when tickets went on sale Friday afternoon. As of 4 o’clock Friday afternoon, scores of tickets remained available, many of which were on par or slightly less expensive than the cost of a comparable ticket in Buffalo.
“It will be kind of fun to see how well we fill that stadium since Browns and Bills fans travel so well,” Hatfield said.
Although he is just as excited for the weekend ahead, Hatfield said he can’t help but feel like he — and everybody else — are missing out on a memorable experience had the game still been in Buffalo.
“It would have been a great story to tell that we were in 3 to 4 feet of snow for a Browns game — another Snow Bowl as they call it,” Hatfield said.
