#Andrew Cuomo wants to attend Bills NFL playoff game

Bills Mafia has NFL playoff fever, and that includes Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Cuomo said Sunday he wants to be at Bills Stadium in Orchard Park when the Bills host a playoff game next month after the team clinched the AFC East division title on Saturday, but it remains to be seen if fans will be allowed in because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I want to attend a Bills game,” Cuomo said on a conference call. “I’ve attended them in the past — it was a great game (Saturday,) by the way — that was just unbelievable. I mean really incredible. You almost sense the energy and the optimism and the confidence, the way they played (Saturday,) and Josh Allen was just unbelievable.”

The Bills — like the Giants and Jets — have not had any fans at their games this season; some teams like the Cowboys and Browns have been allowed to host a limited number of fans.

Cuomo, reiterating comments from Friday, said the infection rate and hospitalization rate in Western New York will determine whether the Bills can host fans. The Department of Health is reviewing the Bills’ stadium reopening plan, Cuomo said.

There are concerns, however, beyond the number of fans allowed in the stadium and how spread out they are.

“The big issue here is tailgate parties,” New York state health commissioner Howard A. Zucker said.

Bills fans are known for wild tailgates before games, which have included people jumping through flaming tables. And fans have been itching to get together to revel in the Bills’ great season. Thousands of raucous fans even greeted the team at the airport early Sunday morning when they returned home from Denver after clinching a playoff berth.

“Large gatherings should concern everyone,” Cuomo said.

— Additional reporting by Lee Brown