Report: NFL moves Browns-Bills to Detroit due to unfavorable weather forecast

The Buffalo Bills’ Week 11 game against the visiting Cleveland Browns will not be played at High Mark Stadium. With heavy snowfall predicted for the Buffalo area in the coming days — up to 4 feet of snow are in the forecast — the NFL decided to move the game.

As first reported by Tim Graham of The Athletic, the game will be played at Detroit’s Ford Field. Kickoff remains set for 1 p.m. ET.

The NFL confirmed the move in a statement released on Thursday afternoon:

Due to public safety concerns and out of an abundance of caution in light of the ongoing weather emergency in western New York, Sunday’s Cleveland Browns-Buffalo Bills game will be moved to Ford Field in Detroit at 1 p.m. ET, the NFL announced today.

The decision to move the game from Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, NY was done in consultation with the Buffalo Bills and local and state authorities as the region prepares for the storm.

Details on tickets and other game day information for Sunday’s game in Detroit will be announced shortly. The Bills will provide information for those fans with tickets to the game originally scheduled for Orchard Park.

The move to Detroit has been made possible by the city’s own team playing on the road that weekend; the Lions will visit the New York Giants. They will return home in Week 12 to play those very same Bills that will call Ford Field their temporary home on Sunday.

That said, the arena is in fat closer to Cleveland than it is to Buffalo. The Browns will therefore have a shorter travel time to the road game than the nominal home team.