ORCHARD PARK - For the vast majority of fans who attended Saturday night’s annual blue and red Buffalo Bills practice, the debut event for the new Highmark Stadium proved to be a thrilling and enjoyable experience. Well, except for the rain and, naturally, the traffic.
However, there were some who pointed out flaws in the $2.2 billion venue, most vehemently regarding some of the seats that have obstructed views of the field.
Several pictures circulated through social media Saturday night and again Sunday morning showing views that were blocked by railings, safety glass partitions and staircases.
It was a bad look, literally, and it put a bit of a damper on what was supposed to be the ultimate feel-good night for western New York and the Bills,
showing off the magnificent gem of a stadium. In this day and age of advanced engineering, it seems a bit unfathomable that a stadium could be built with obstructed view seats.
Iconic baseball venues Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, both built more than a century ago? Yeah, that’s understandable. But given all the meticulous architectural detail that went into building Highmark Stadium, it is surprising that this could have happened.
What the Bills said about obstructed-view complaints
The team issued a statement Monday that read: "Thank you to Bills Mafia for setting a new attendance record with more than 50,000 fans at the Return of the Blue & Red. Saturday's practice was a great opportunity to test the new stadium. We are currently addressing internal and external feedback regarding the facility's operation following the first event. We'll utilize the next six weeks to refine any details as we prepare for the home opener on Thursday, September 17."
Bills’ chief operating officer Pete Guelli and vice-president of stadium development John Polka conducted a conference call Monday with reporters to address some of the complaints that have been levied by unhappy fans.
“It was an amazing, incredible night. The reaction that we got from the vast majority of the fans has been overwhelmingly positive,” Guelli said. “It’s a state-of-the-art, best-in-class facility. Nothing in that building compares to the old stadium, and I think, for the most part, people were blown away.
“Any building you would walk into, there would be some obstructed seating. There are seats where we could create a different design, put in a blank area, or they give you the option to put in a seat that might be obstructed for football, but can be used for any other event like a concert. There’s always partial-view or limited-view seats, and we think those were pretty clearly depicted in our virtual venue.”
To that point, some of the seats that became famous in social media posts have not and will not be sold for football games, but some have been purchased and the Bills’ defense is that fans who chose those seats knew what they were getting when they were shown a virtual view.
“Seats with truly obstructed views have not been sold as a PSL or for any football games,” Polka said. “If we have a concert in the round at the 50-yard line or a stage in the north end zone, we may sell those tickets for an event, but not for football.”
Fans and Bills differ on the video board experience
There were a couple other primary complaints that surfaced regarding the size of the JumboTron scoreboards and the weather protection provided by the overhead canopy.
The scoreboards definitely seem underwhelming in size and are likely smaller than what we see in other newly-built stadiums. The Bills have said this was by design, and the one thing we keep hearing is that owner Terry Pegula wanted fans to be focused on the field and not watching the scoreboard all game long.
Instead of investing more in the boards, the Bills put big money into the sound system and having been there Saturday night, I can vouch that the sound system is loud, very loud, though I’m not sure why that was so important.
"We know we have one of the best sound systems now in the league and we're really looking forward to people seeing what it can truly do," Guelli said. "Once we get this thing rolling and are tuned up for a game, we're confident it's going to be as good as advertised."
That’s fine, but one would think fans would rather look at a bigger scoreboard for game replays than listen to music and announcements blared over the speakers in between plays.
As for the canopy, the Bills have said it covers approximately 65% of the seating bowl, but that’s a stretch. Perhaps if rain falls straight down from the sky that could be true, but when does the rain ever fall straight down in Orchard Park where the wind is always blowing?
Fans who are seated on the west side of the stadium, the side closest to Lake Erie, made a wise choice because the prevailing wind comes from behind them from the south and southwest. When it rains, the canopy is going to protect them much better than the fans sitting on the other side and that was evident Saturday night.
However, if you’re sitting in the lower bowl, the most expensive seats, it really doesn’t matter which side you’re on because you’re not protected. When the skies opened Saturday, just about the entire lower bowl emptied as fans sought cover in the concourses. Most of the west side upper seating was protected while across the way, only about the top half of the upper deck stayed dry.
“So far, we’ve heard from less than 1% of our PSL holders about anything sight line related,” Guelli said. “Relative to that specific issue, we feel very confident what was represented via the virtual venue is accurate to what people saw when they sat in their seats. If anybody feels otherwise, we’re taking this on a case-by-case basis, and we’ll address any concerns that they have.”
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills address obstructed-view complaints after stadium debut
