When a franchise – and local taxpayers – fork out $2.2-billion for a new stadium you would expect it to be up to snuff, but a few weeks in and the reviews for the Buffalo Bills ‘new’ Highmark Stadium have not been flattering.
First it was the sightlines.
This from fan Derrick Piatkowski on X:
“We were pretty adamant about the obstructed views during our stadium experience. We were told it wouldn’t be an issue. This is what we were shown, and this is the end result. This is not acceptable.”
Social media was flooded with photos showing obstructed views of the field from some seats, but there is an even bigger problem – just how costly attending a game is, or perhaps ‘owning’ a seat is more apropos
Higher ticket prices also include personal seat licenses (PSLs), which just give fans the right to buy season tickets, not the tickets themselves. PSLs cost $750 to $50,000 per seat. That comes on top of the $850 million in taxpayer money already paid to fund construction.
The Bills raised an estimated $250 million from the sale of PSLs for its new 60,000-seat stadium, which equals about $4,000 per seat.
Then came this past Saturday when the Bills hosted the Carolina Panthers in their first preseason game at the new stadium.
A report first circulated a ‘player’ complained about the grass, then further reports indicated it was actually a Buffalo player.
“The field is [expletive] right now,” the player said to The Athletic’s Tim Graham. “But it’s early,”
The stadium’s new playing surface features Kentucky Bluegrass grown by Tuckahoe Turf Farms in New Jersey.
While NFL players have overwhelmingly expressed a preference for natural grass over artificial turf, the condition of the new Highmark Stadium field left some Bills players less than impressed, with the aforementioned player offering his blunt assessment.
The condition of the grass became noticeable as early as the opening quarter of Saturday’s preseason game. After one play, quarterback Kyle Allen slid toward the sideline and ripped up a sizable section of the playing surface.
The damage led to four Bills players helpi the Highmark Stadium grounds crew push and stomp the loose divots back into place manually
Bills President Pete Guelli offered this response to the Associated Press on Monday.
“From a playability and safety perspective, everybody’s very happy,” Guelli said, via the Associated Press. “It’s Year 1. So it’s a brand new field and it’s going to take time for the foundation to build up. So some of the things people saw in the game, those will dissipate over time.”
Buffalo hosts one more preseason game next Thursday August 27 against Pittsburgh before welcoming Detroit three weeks later for their regular season home opener on Thursday September 17.
Hopefully by then some of the issues affecting a new $2.2-billion stadium will be rectified. Let’s be honest, some of the best fans in the NFL deserve it.
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
