WNYorker

Stadium Review:

Walking up to the new Highmark Stadium is a bit of a surreal feeling. It’s tall. It’s looming over you as you make your way around to a gate.

The areas surrounding the outside of the stadium look nice, but still feel incomplete. I imagine 2–3 years from now it’ll look better than it does today. Some landscaping work, along with the ongoing construction, makes the exterior feel a little unfinished right now.

Once you get inside, though, that incomplete feeling fades pretty quickly.

The concourses are huge, polished and well decorated. Being able to see the field from the concourses might be the stadium’s biggest upgrade over the old stadium. It’s a night-and-day difference.

The amount of standing-room areas around the stadium is also a really nice addition that the old stadium was lacking. As I walked around, I kept finding different places where you could stand and watch the game, and pretty much every one of them seemed to have a great view.

The signage around the stadium looks pretty standard. I saw plenty of bathrooms — I didn’t go in, so unfortunately there will be no bathroom review — along with plenty of guest services stations.

There are also a lot of places to get food, whether you want a quick bite from one of the self-serve kiosk-type setups or a more traditional concession stand.

One thing that surprised me: they actually had concessions open for the early-morning practice. It was nice to have the options, even if it was a little too early for me to crush a sausage-and-peppers hoagie.

The Videoboards: I found the videoboards to be big enough for me. But bigger is almost always better, and they probably should have made the larger of the two screens about 15% taller just to avoid it becoming a negative talking point.

Personally, though, I don’t think the videoboards are really an issue at all. They’re bright, high-resolution and, when they’re showing video full-screen instead of being covered with ads, they look really nice.

The Seats: The seating is pretty typical if you’ve been inside a modern stadium. Lightweight, solid plastic seats that are reasonably roomy, with good legroom in the areas. I must point out though that my wife is short and her feet didn't touch the ground in the upper deck seats.

The steepness of the upper deck has been mentioned by quite a few people, but I didn’t think it was too steep or even particularly noteworthy. No issues there, in my opinion.

I also took some time to walk around the stadium and sit in a bunch of different areas because I wanted to get a feel for just how bad these obstructed-view seats really are.

I learned that they are, in fact, as bad as you’ve seen in the photos.

If you’re sitting in the first row behind certain staircases, the glass can be obnoxious. I wouldn’t want to sit there myself, and I definitely wouldn’t want to pay the same price as somebody sitting five seats away with an unobstructed view.

It’s very hard to estimate exactly how many seats I would consider “bad seats,” but I think it’s safe to say there are more than 250 seats in the stadium that I personally wouldn’t love to be sitting in.

That being said, my biggest takeaway from the whole obstructed-view controversy is that I don’t think it’s going to be a huge deal as time goes on.

People will eventually know exactly what they’re buying, and I would imagine the market will figure out the pricing on those seats pretty quickly.

I had to actively seek out a bad seat.

I think it’s pretty accurate to say that 99% of the seats in this stadium are great.

The Sound System: The sound system is phenomenal. Some people are going to tell you it’s too loud, and that’s a perfectly fair personal opinion. But the clarity and range of the speaker system is obvious.

It sounds like a state-of-the-art sound system. As it should.

The Artwork: The artwork around the stadium feels true to Western New York. There are a lot of cool pieces throughout the building and plenty of spots that are obviously going to end up all over people’s Instagram feeds on game day.

A Few Other Things: The amount of raw concrete visible around both end zones — mainly the Charge end — is a little disappointing.

As others have pointed out, painting some of that exposed concrete dark blue would give the stadium a more finished look, especially on television. It seems like a relatively simple thing that could make a noticeable difference.

One potential safety concern I noticed was with the glass staircases in the upper decks.

I watched a few older people struggle going up and down the stairs. I’m not sure if it was the height, the glass, the way the steps look through the glass, or just an awkward step somewhere, but I saw it happen enough times that it caught my attention.

The bison outside the stadium are cool, too. They’re a nice touch for fans entering from that side.

I’d be lying, though, if I said I think they’re big enough.

They should have been bigger, and maybe placed on some sort of elevated base so you could see them from farther away. They’re cool when you’re standing next to them. I just think they could have had a much bigger visual impact.

Another thing that stands out on the exterior is the amount of electrical poles and overhead lines surrounding the stadium.

They’re an eyesore.

For a brand-new, billion-dollar stadium, I really think those lines should have been buried underground. It would give the entire area a much cleaner and more finished look, especially as the landscaping and surrounding development continue to improve over the next few years.

Overall, I think Bills fans are going to love this place. We should. It’s nice!

Trying to please an entire fanbase full of people with different ideas of what the stadium should have been was never going to be easy. And although the new Highmark Stadium isn’t perfect in everybody’s eyes, I think we can all agree on one thing:

It’s a huge upgrade.

There are things I would have changed. There are things I think they could still improve. There are definitely a few seats I wouldn’t want.

But the overwhelming majority of people who walk into this stadium are going to have a great view, better amenities, more room to move around, more places to watch the game and a much more modern experience than they had across the street.

Now there’s really only one thing left to do.

Make some memories inside of it.

That’s when it will truly feel like home.

Go Bills!

A lot of people think the Buffalo Bills new alternate helmet is going to look something like this. What do you think of it? 🏈

Happy 716 day Western New York!

We've been busy making some games for our website that are all about Western New York and the 716. We would be honored to have you check them out and have some fun! There are 5 games in production right now, none of them are finished products yet so please send comments and suggestions for future updates. Every game has a leaderboard so your high-score can be saved for all of WNY to see.