JJ Watt questions decision on $1,540,000,000 stadium with Steelers-Bills Wild Card showdown postponed
J.J. Watt is among the many personalities around the NFL who were shocked by the decision to postpone a playoff game this week. The league announced on Saturday afternoon that the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers will no longer be playing on Sunday. Instead, their Wild Card round matchup has been rescheduled to Monday at 4:00 p.m. ET.
The difficult decision to postpone the game came as a result of an intense weather forecast in Orchard Park, New York, where the Bills host their home games. Strong winds and heavy snowfall are expected during and around the time of the originally scheduled game time.
With New York declaring a state of emergency, the NFL decided it was best to play the game later.
Following the announcement, J.J. Watt had this to say via his personal X (formerly Twitter) account:
"Honest question: Wasn’t the argument for Buffalo’s new stadium not having a roof that football is supposed to be played in the elements? This is multiple games in recent years that have been rescheduled due to weather. Do we want the elements to be a factor or not?"
The Bills currently host their home games at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park but are building a brand-new stadium right across the street, which is set to cost around $1.54 billion, according to ESPN.
Watt is questioning their decision to construct another completely outdoor stadium instead of one with a roof, suggesting this could solve their future issues of potentially postponing more inclement weather.
JJ Watt receives overwhelming responses
After questioning the decision publicly on X, J.J. Watt received an overwhelming response from fans, NFL media members, and others. Most of them were explaining to him that whether or not the stadium has a roof would not have made any difference in this particular game being postponed.
It was done to reduce dangerous travel to and from the stadium, not to protect players from the elements.
Watt tweeted again after a viral amount of responses to his initial post:
"It’s about travel to/from the game… I got it."
Watt had fun acknowledging the overwhelming feedback to his initial question, with pretty much the same response from most who replied. Even if the stadium had a roof, that has no impact on the dangerous travel conditions that the NFL is avoiding around the Buffalo Bills game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
When will Bills move to the new stadium?
The Buffalo Bills are constructing a new Highmark Stadium across the street from their current one in Orchard Park, New York.
They are keeping the same name for their new home, which is projected to be opened before the 2026 NFL season starts. The remainder of the NFL Playoffs this year and the entirety of the next two seasons will remain in their current stadium.