What an evening inside the new Highmark Stadium for the Return of the Blue and Red Scrimmage on Saturday night for Buffalo Bills fans.
I was fortunate enough to be one of the 51,807 in attendance for the first full-scale event inside the Bills’ new building, and below are my first impressions along with reviews from a collection of Bills fans I talked to after the festivities.
Concourses inside new Highmark Stadium
Because everyone first enters the stadium into a concourse — and the old stadium’s concourses were narrow concrete hallways
— this is everyone’s first impression of the stadium.
I was thoroughly impressed by how expansive they are, and the 360 degree view of the field provides serious Major League Baseball vibes. Once you’re in the stadium, you can see the field from the concourse regardless of what level you’re on. That’s an amazing touch, and the first and probably most sizable of many significant upgrades in this new stadium compared to the Bills’ old digs.
Concession spots in new Highmark Stadium
It feels necessary to go here next, because when you’re in the concourses you’re inundated with spots to get food and drink. The opposite was true at the old stadium, where it was clear the Bills were far behind the rest of the NFL in terms of amount of concession locations within the building. That led to unreasonably long lines at any part of the game. Said lines often spanned the entire width of the concourses, which created incredibly congested walkways for anyone attempting to find a bathroom during halftime or between drives.
In this new stadium, the concessions options feel endless. They’re everywhere. And, vitally, many of them are dug into the wall of the outer rim of the concourse, so you if there are lines, they won’t protrude into the main walkway.
Also, the main concession stands named after Buffalo neighborhoods are a tasteful element to this stadium.
Food inside new Highmark Stadium
Natural segue here — the food options inside the Bills stadium are un-be-lievable. Night and day difference from the minimal variety offered in the old building.
And it’s all local, essentially. While the wings and pizza aren’t from a Buffalo staple, you’re offered Beef on Weck using Wegmans rolls, a plethora of options from Texas BBQ-Indian fusion restaurant Southern Junction — a multiple James Beard Award nominee — Babcia’s Pierogi, Anderson’s Ice Cream and many more. I love that.
Also, don’t worry about waiting 20 minutes for your wings to fry.
Wings along with most of the menu items — like chicken fingers, burgers, and fries — are all pre-made and under serious heat lamps. I got wings on my way out and they were legitimately hot (temperature wise), and slathered in rich Buffalo sauce. I didn’t have high expectations for wings being made at such a large scale, but they were rock solid.
My wife and kids had the soft serve ice cream, and at 7 and 9 years old, my daughters are ice cream experts. They insatntly raved about it and it was the first topic of conversation this morning.
Regarding drinks — the options are basically endless. In many of the enormous grab-and-go fridges were not only the staple beer and seltzer brands but many beverages I’d never heard of with a multitude of flavors. You will be able to snag your drink much faster in this new stadium and you will be overwhelmed with choices before you’re miffed there aren’t enough.
Signage inside new Highmark Stadium
This is one area I felt was a bit underwhelming. Or in this case, confusing. There weren’t enough large signs directing you to your seats or identifying where bathrooms were. Many of the doors only had small, office-building like signs next to them, and it wasn’t super clear how to find escalators and elevators.
However, I did realize some of the branded congregating spots around the stadium like the Charge Bar and Labatt Blue Zone are simply just not familiar to anyone yet, meaning signs with directing you toward any of them may take a while to become landmarks for you and your family and friends.
Sightlines inside the new Highmark Stadium
The seat architecture in the Bills new home is magnificent. They’ll managed to place seats closer and lower to the field The open feel of the concourses are awesome. The intimacy of the seats are foundational elements of this building.
My dad and I had front row 300 level seats on the visitor side 40 yard line in the old stadium. I’ve always been incredibly grateful to have seats with that vantage point. For as great as those seats were, there’s no doubt we were really far away from the field.
When I got to those same seats in this new stadium, I was blown away at how low and close to the field they were. The vantage point shifted to what I’d estimate was like the back rows of the 100s or 200s in the old stadium. And it felt like I could toss a football onto the field from my seats, when that was never the case in the seats across the street.
Even the 400 level directly behind us are impossibly close to the field for being an upper deck of a modern NFL stadium.
“There’s not a bad seat in the house” is the ultimate, tired stadium adage.
It absolutely is true in the new Highmark Stadium.
Video boards and noise inside new Highmark Stadium
The video boards are small by new-stadium standards. No doubt. We were told that was done on purpose, because if you’re physically at the game, you’re attention will likely be on the field, not a screen. I 100% agree with that priniciple.
The money saved from not splurging on expansive Jumbotrons was spent on ridiculous, state-of-the-art sound system. And the acoustics from the canopy made all the music and fan reactions stupid loud. I’m guessing the new Highmark Stadium will quickly be regarded as one of the loudest stadiums in football, providing the Bills the home-field advantage every team wants from its fans and building.
Anything else you’re wondering about the new stadium? Do you have thoughts of your own? Drop a comment to start a conversation.
