Bills fans brave snow, cold to celebrate final regular-season game at 53-year-old Highmark Stadium

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) - The Buffalo Bills and their fans bid what could be farewell to their long-time home stadium filled with 53 years of memories - and often piles of snow.

"A lifetime of memories," said Therese Forton-Barnes, selected the team's Fan of the Year before the Bills kicked of their regular-season finale against the Jets on Sunday. "In our culture that we know and love, we can bond together from that experience. Our love for this team, our love for this city, have branched from those roots."

Forton-Barnes, a past president of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame, attended Bills games as a child at the old War Memorial Stadium in downtown Buffalo, colloquially known as "The Rockpile." She has been a season ticket holder since Jim Kelly joined the Bills in 1986 at what was then Rich Stadium, later renamed for the team's founding owner Ralph Wilson, and then corporate sponsors New Era and Highmark.

"I've been to over 350 games," she said. "Today we're here to cherish and celebrate the past, present and future. We have so many memories that you can't erase at Rich Stadium, The Ralph, and now Highmark. Forever we will hold these memories when we move across the street."

Sunday's game was likely the last to be played at the stadium as the Bills will open the playoffs on the road. The team is then preparing to move next season to a new $2.1 billion facility being built across the street.

There was a celebratory mood to the day, with fans arriving early. Cars lined Abbott Road some 90 minutes before the stadium lots opened for a game the Bills rested most of their starters, with a brisk wind blowing in off of nearby Lake Erie and with temperatures dipping into the low 20s.

And most were in their seats when Bills owner Terry Pegula thanked fans and stadium workers in a pregame address.

With Buffalo leading 21-0 at halftime, many fans stayed in their seats as Pro Football Hall of Famers Jim Kelly and Andre Reed addressed them from the field, and the team played a video message from 100-year-old Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy.

"The fans have been unbelievable," said Jack Hofstetter, a ticket-taker since the stadium opened in 1973 who was presented with Super Bowl tickets before Sunday's game by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. "I was a kid making 8 bucks a game back in those days. I got to see all the sports, ushering in the stadium and taking tickets later on. All the memories, it's been fantastic."

Bud Light commemorated the stadium finale and Bills fan culture with the release of a special-edition beer brewed with melted snow shoveled out of the stadium earlier this season.

In what has become a winter tradition at the stadium, fans were hired to clear the stands after a lake-effect storm dropped more than a foot of snow on the region this week.

The few remaining shovelers were still present clearing the pathways and end zone stands of snow some five hours before kickoff. The new stadium won't require as many shovelers, with the field heated and with more than two-thirds of the 60,000-plus seats covered by a curved roof overhang.

Former Bills quarterback Doug Flutie said the common snow and wind at the stadium provided a distinct home-field advantage.

"We knew that the wind would come in and hit that wall at one end, the field goals, the way you kicked, the way that you threw, throw the ball to this sideline when the wind is like this," Flutie said. "What I remember most, though, are more the fans. Like I always said this, on Wednesday after practice, there are RVs in the parking lot. It's like people go on vacation for five days to the parking lots and this is a big deal.

"So it was really a cool thing."

Security officials have been on high alert all week and warning fans against taking any potential souvenirs or rushing on to the field postgame. Officials said they will monitor stadium cameras in a bid to identify anyone breaking the rules, and suggesting they could be barred from attending games in the new stadium.