What Goes into Preparing an NFL Stadium for a CRAZY Weather Game? | Buffalo Bills

and then what you do where would you rather be where else oh where else would you rather be than right here right now that's why i got a gold jacket see what i'm talking about let's go buffalo freezing cold howling winds and the effect of tonight's game will be significant monday night football gotta love it weather is a huge factor here i think one of the huge challenges here though is we're dealing with a stadium that's almost 50 years old going into a prime time game this is a big deal and i'm really looking forward to executing everything that we've been prepping for literally for months this is to make sure that the pyro is safe and secure and that it's going to work properly when the time comes if you're the bills i think you have to win this football game a mid 60 mile per hour gus qto qf qmq i got one push where else would you rather be where else would you although the stadium is like buzzing the clipboard still needs to get done that's a crucial piece of my game day my name is megan hess i'm the manager of community relations for the buffalo bills welcome to buffalo community relations really entails everything that represents bill's mafia so we do work connecting our players and coaches with bills mafia's finest throughout our community i also am neurotic with a clipboard that i carry on game day for the clipboard so i literally create down to the minute where and when i need to be i cut it out it's intense you guys this is an art then i tape it to the back so then tomorrow i just turn my clipboard around and i know where and when i need to be [Music] keep this so organized that's my middle name oh it's no i'm like organized wait till they see your office it's organized chaos here i'm mike adamic director of game presentation for the bills so game presentation is really a culmination of days weeks and months leading into a game day entertainment for the fans [Music] so this room right here it's basically the hub everything that goes on the scoreboard ultimately comes from this room right here from our graphic operators our replay operators literally everything that goes on the scoreboard starts from here here's home sweet home so this is my location on game day we keep this window open honestly because i want to feel the energy from the crowd i can hear it i can feel it i know what's working what's not working we've got our noise meter which is right here kind of sits outside here i'll monitor that just to keep an eye on the decibel level of the crowd it's kind of mind-blowing when you think about you have a major impact on the crowd reaction that goes on the field from the music you play to our third down train horn that we play to the noise meter to know that you have a major play on that it's kind of surreal honestly even after four years of sitting in this seat in 15 years working in this building i still get goosebumps every time we kick off there you go our famous chefs okay i'm derek norman and uh they called me chef norm richard peterson they call me chef pool sunday morning all right guys have a good one go bills well get on the white truck we have our we have our grill on the trailer here we got our hibachi style flat top on the back of the uh pickup we also got our heater on there and some propane we'll kind of make a u-shaped form around the tents cause it's gonna be pretty windy tomorrow they say 40 mile an hour 50 mile an hour winds so we'll just kind of try to adjust the rvs to keep the ticks from blowing down [Music] it's going to be so many rvs out here you're going to have bonfires going you're going to have music going you're going to have people just hanging out partying drinking just having a great time it's like a big cat brow you know but it's all about tailgating in buffalo it's nothing like have been out of the buffalo bills game in december in these elements this is what we live for right here right now i love it man [Music] [Applause] this is where there's a peacefulness to being here early in the morning in the stadium really nobody else here especially on a gorgeous day like today so this is where the gig is pretty fun pretty enjoyable no doubt about it [Music] first thing i'm doing today is just checking in on the weather we've got some wind coming in tomorrow so looking to see what the latest is so that we can appropriately plan for today still looking at really windy start to the day tomorrow and then potentially turning into a little bit of snow so a lot of stuff for us to prepare for on the on the operations side the weather could be really ugly so certainly that is going to be a factor here but in my mind one of the keys to the game is does bill belichick have the answer for josh allen so one of the differences for us this week with the monday night game is espn and their pre-game setup so the plan is for espn to have their stage set up here with the wins that are projected for tomorrow there's the possibility that we need to go to a plan b or even plan c plan b if the winds are too high would be to take the stage off and instead have their talent just on the field either standing up or on high top chairs plan c would be to move them up into one of our end zone club suites and give them an area up there where they can shoot their pre-game and also half-time show probably a decision that will hopefully be made you know late morning tomorrow early afternoon so that everybody can prepare accordingly so yeah just gonna touch base with our staff for the rest of the morning today do some final day before game checks and try to get out of here and hope the weather is in our favor tomorrow [Music] my name is chad lori i'm a assistant groundskeeper for the bills our department is responsible for the maintenance of the turf stadium field and then we also have two and a half full kentucky bluegrass fields for practice so we maintain those and then on game weeks we are also responsible for the sideline setup and basically anything that's set up around the perimeter of the field so this is like a radiant heater this is kind of more like for a guy to come stand warm up for a second and then the torpedo heaters will kind of blow a little warm air [Music] the players definitely like to be warm they don't like they do not like the cold this is cold this is buffalo weather right here you know clear safety wise too you get cold and then mussels get tight so try to do our best to keep the boys warm tomorrow we're looking at some potentially strong winds you know a 40 to 60 mile hour wind can really move anything so you have to basically bend down the hatches a little more [Music] hello sir how are you good how are you could not be better ready for tomorrow well i'll be ready for tomorrow tomorrow [Laughter] [Music] my name is david sylvester and i am an employee with image engineering we do the special effects here for the buffalo bills on their game day we have some on-field special effects that we do pre-game we do a quite a bit of lighting down in the tunnels for the players as they're coming out of the locker room and we put more smoke down there as well for special effects we do have some buffalo that we that we pull out onto the field which are a lot of co2 and then our company also does pyrotechnics oh i got a bright white there's four towers that surround the stadium and we shoot pyrotechnics off of each tower as well as the north and the south end of the stadium we climb up each tower to set it up and we climb up each tower to take it down at the end of the night as we always say when they design stadiums they never consider the pyrotechnics we are in a laboratory so we are looking for two different types of fireworks we have what we refer to as comets comets shoot just a solid ball of color uh these these will go about 150 feet in the air uh and we also have we'll refer to as mines a mind will shoot a shower of sparks also for some of our bigger prime time games such as monday night football we have what we refer to as an enhanced set of fireworks and what we'll do is we'll actually angle them it gives the illusion of a much broader much more spread out fireworks one of the things that they'll tell you in buffalo if you don't like the weather wait 15 minutes and uh that's sure enough gonna be what happens on monday night where the pyrotechnics happen we're looking at possible wind gusts we have contingency plans so right up into within a minute or two of when we fire them we're going to be keeping our eye on the weather but we're really hoping it doesn't come to that worst case scenario uh this is a big night for us a big night for the fans big night for the players we want our fire technics to go off all right let's head out [Music] all right guys you want to get into it there are some very fun games including this first one get your tables ready bills mafia get your chowder heated patriots fans this game is going to be an early christmas present for us all this is a battle for first place in the afc east uh getting ready for tomorrow we're gonna get up in the morning we're gonna cook our ribs our chicken and we got a big pot of chili hello cold out here oh yeah we got the tent set up with the heat ready for the monday night game got the 55-inch tv ready to go and here we go let's go buffalo who you with buffalo who are you with buffalo who you win buffalo who you're wearing let's go all right you guys good for a little walk through the weather here [Music] so this time of the day i'm usually walking through our walking through the stadium through the concourses in some of our priority areas just to see if there's anything that looks out of place anything that needs to be addressed you know this is a good example of something i'm looking for just standing water that we need to get out of here because later as the temperatures go down this is going to turn to ice and create a safety issue so this is the type of stuff we're looking for as we're walking around all day the age of the stadium is really the biggest issue always for us we don't take anything for granted something we've checked the night before isn't necessarily going to be that way the next day so the weather presents a constant challenge for us whether we have sunny gorgeous october days or we've got windy rainy snowy days fans are going to pack this place because they want to be here they're passionate about the team they want to support the team and and this place will be packed and rocking tonight so far so good you know we got to stay down and strap down pretty good but uh a lot of wind is uh got us a little bit worried we came up this morning and we found a big hole in there the wind must have took it and ripped it or something you know we're trying to patch it up right here is a little a little tough right now it's probably the worst game we've been in because like i said we had a snowstorm it wasn't bad i thought it was beautiful out you know and the biggest problem out here is to win about 25 miles per hour right now and it's supposed to get up to 40. so that's why we're a little nervous about this yeah that's dope yeah that's double you know what what you say it's like noah's ark hold on we're gonna hold on hold on and go for the ride we're still cooking we got the ribs and chicken on our side so this when they stopping the show we have about like 12 of those slabs of ribs about 70 pieces of chicken normally we we use this one here we'll put charcoal in here light it up and then put all our sides in there to heat them up you know so we'll do that later on this afternoon it's a whole method to what we do man we pretty much got it down pat now you know so we made it to game day it's officially monday we're getting ready for some prime time action for every home game there's a different community initiative and for this home game it's our my cause my cleats game so for my cause my cleats we have over 20 players and eight coaches that are signed up to represent their cause on their shoes so they're able to choose what they want to represent what they want to play for and my game day responsibility will be to make sure all the players have their cleats on their feet ready for the game so fans will see players wearing all different color cleats that are representing their causes that are near and dear to their hearts [Music] this is my three changes of clothes for the day including one rain jacket one snow jacket we are ready for any occasion today not quite all right almost but not quite a normal game day routine would be when i get up in the morning i always bake cookies it kind of relieves my stress and because i like to bring them in for staff and coaches because who doesn't like fresh baked cookies [Music] monday night football yeah it's such an iconic game i know in our bill's history we haven't had a ton of them and it's just it's just really meaningful to be on a national stage for us here in buffalo it's not just about the game it's it's our whole community it's you know it's our identity it's it's um reflected in everything that we do whether it's the the food it's the you know the tailgating the game itself you can feel how much it means [Music] be clear we've got our buffalo our buffalo are one of our most visible special effects obviously as you can see they're not the uh the easiest things to maneuver uh they weigh about 600 pounds each it could take us maybe 20 minutes or so to start loading the co2 into the buffalo and then we're going to start rolling that all out into the field one two three [Music] we have our game day staff meeting which is coming up in about eight minutes here uh which will will get an even better handle on the weather forecast and kind of what we're looking at for the game today okay what's up guys when i'm up in the booth um getting ready for the game i can tell that it's windy i just can't tell how windy it is so i really rely on people that are out in the bowl themselves to really get a feeling what the weather's like [Music] these are going to blow all over dude you think for 600 pounds these things wouldn't move to save their life [Music] the wind it literally keeps closing it on my head oh this this gets brutal all right so we're getting everything set up to test the eyes on the buffalo and the nostril co2 jets co2 test that would be such a good shot if it just sat there longer you know this co2 when it comes out will sit right where it is if it's good conditions but when it's windy like this you shoot it and it's just gone okay everybody we can get started happy monday night football my game day staff's about 35 people ranging from the control room to the videographers to the flag runners to the pyro company okay let's get into let's get into the game script here it is our my cause my cleats game so the camera guys i uh sent out a map we'll go over every single detail to make sure everything is in order okay thank you everybody black guys don't get blown away please have a good game after the staff meeting i'll go through the control room and i'll meet with the director if he has any questions on any new elements that we're running the replay operators the graphic operators to make sure they have all their elements for game day so we'll start with this one and then we'll go in order obviously in order okay awesome thanks although i think the color guard is done i know all right so we've got about three hours to kick off the wind has continued to creep up for the last three hours so espn's making the decision to pull the pregame stage they've never done before unfortunate situation but given the wind and the potential for higher gusts as we get up to game time it's the right move for the safety of not only their personalities but anybody else on the field so all things considered if the wind dies down a little bit we're in good shape there's always a chance the wind continues to pick up and we get gusts like this so really getting up to and through pregame and through kickoff is really our focus right now this is when it starts everybody start calling now this is this is right this is when it starts dt jeremy kelly head of alumni relations for the buffalo bills all good all right i'll see you guys when you get here just call when you get close make sure you had a parking pass ready what i do is provide a community of care for our buffalo bills legends whatever we can do to take care of our guys internally externally that comes across my desk one of our new traditions which we established back in 2019 has really taken off this year it's our legend of the game this game we're going to be welcoming back a hall of famer that i think the fans are going to be very excited about you know for a brother that's supposed to be on time and precise my man is a little behind right now but that's my dog we're going to give him a little grace today see there you go t [Laughter] come on man on game day we try to get our legends integrated into everything that we can throughout the stadium we try to make our legends accessible sue gonzalez tara lawrence we're probably gonna have about six or seven hall of famers as well so it's gonna be a busy game for me they come back to buffalo man they love it you know and these fans embrace them so you know it's it's easy it's easy i don't gotta i don't gotta pull i don't gotta pull and twist arms so this is the good stuff that we love to do in amplified [Music] we've got a little bit of a snow globe out there now that's bad wow holy crap who's who's down on the field right now [Music] gates open in three minutes that looks like a frozen tundra or what's something called football weather tonight in buffalo currently 36 degrees with a strong wind at 28 miles per hour the gusts much stronger monday night football in the rain in the wind in the snow december ball in all its glory we're just eagerly waiting for this to plateau that's what's supposed to happen the wind's supposed to plateau the snow is supposed to stop so see what happens in the next half hour weather uh not stopping stefan diggs from his customary pregame ritual little catch with the fans out there in buffalo let's go buffalo let's go buffalo the bills don't build up bills that bills make me want to shout is this bill's country nothing like the bill's mafia this is what we do cook a lot of food getting ready for monday night wheat stones probably started to eat about maybe five six o'clock you know when people start coming in hamburgers and hot dogs first and then after that we'll serve the main course what time's kickoff 8 20 8 20 so we're headed to probably about eight hours ten two years eight o'clock we haven't missed the kickoff yet going in a half hour before so the win is definitely gonna be a factor out there tonight hopefully when we come back outside for the game our 10 is still standing oh i just got an update wind is too high to shoot the warning shot we'll keep you updated as we get closer to show for player intros okay stand by one hit of the horn in five four three two one horn [Music] so it's one hour before kickoff and so i'm down here gonna head out and watch uh some of our team practice and then also talk to some of our sponsors yeah how are you it's good to see you i know i don't know we don't know if it's gonna continue to snow if it's gonna rain if it's gonna sleet or how windy it's going to get but we do know one thing that the bills mafia and the bill's family will be here in a packed house no matter what the weather this is a different environment tonight the weather is going to be a huge factor for both quarterbacks but for mac jones in particular can he throw the ball consistently enough and then over by the way he's got to deal with bill's mafia too first time here for [Applause] that right now the patriots kickers are attempting they're practicing 33-yard field goals and they're coming up short it's it's windy out there windows 3 1 2 3. teams cleared the field they're going to start to get the buffaloes in place here shortly the hours leading up to game time are usually the most hectic we've got a lot of pre-game responsibilities there are items we have to get on the field so that we're ready for kickoff and fingers crossed they don't move so coming in here we'll get everything squared away with these cats get them where they need to be and then we'll get down to the tunnel pretty shortly before kickoff let them hang out and get ready for game time man [Music] this is what i call two minute drill all right there's a lot of moving pieces but you know where you got to be so we'll be good from you know 7 59 or whatever it is right after coin toss yep yes okay all right good to go all right baby hey go go show some love [Applause] [Music] [Applause] stampede is next the real timing kicks off about 15 minutes prior to kickoff that's when the stampede our game day drum line they'll begin a three minute performance three two one let's wipe to stampede please on a blustery december buffalo night the afc east division flag will be blowing all over the place probably a nice night to be watching on the couch the buffalo bills and new england patriots on monday night football okay dan i'm going to send the patriots a little early and send him dan send him let's go go go go stand by tunnel cam go tunnel cam we got almost everyone down there okay and on camera send them go [Applause] today we're introducing our offensive starters so we got to get these guys in line they don't listen to me all the time so wish me luck today okay i need dion bring dion down first dance p.s you're first stand by all right let's go on camera dion send him go dion mitch mitch morris daryl daryl williams i like your shoes [Applause] nice job everybody [Music] okay one minute to color guard one minute to color guard the anthem singer is about to go on the quick word is bad better game she's not used to the wind get the anthem singer in place please and cure this is my eighth season with the buffalo bills and i am not embarrassed to say that i still get choked up and often shed a few tears during the anthem [Music] [Applause] [Music] good free game everybody coin toss is next [Applause] stand by the qto i got one question where would you rather be than right here to know that my job on game day is to provide the best experience for fans as possible [Music] that really gives me a huge amount of pride 30 seconds to kick off guys everything's good let's go be excited to be here right now look at him when guys say that i haven't been here in 20 years and to be able to come back and to feel welcomed or to sign autographs i'm good my job is done i don't need nothing else as soon as kickoff happens that is when you feel the most pride you've got all eyes focused on the game and you can relax just a little bit if you play a game like this with the weather this in torment it's the great equalizer this is going to be crazy

Channel: Buffalo Bills

Views: 187,173

Keywords: nfl33, custom features, Buffalo Bills, Bills, Buffalo, Football, NFL, National Football League, Orchard Park, New Era Field, AFC, AFC East

Id: HaoSSuMwhZw

Length: 28min 29sec (1709 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 07 2022