A new study conducted by says the Buffalo Bills are now the most expensive team in the NFL to watch in person…I have a problem with that conclusion.
Not because attending a Bills game is cheap. It isn’t.
Not because tickets for the inaugural season at the new Highmark Stadium aren’t expensive. They absolutely are.
And certainly not because Bills tickets aren’t among the hottest commodities in football right now. They undeniably are.
My problem is with what we’re actually measuring and, more importantly,
who gets blamed for the number.
According to this study from Action Network, the average cost for a family of four to attend a Bills game at the new Highmark Stadium is $2,193.95 when tickets, food, drinks and parking are included. The study analyzed more than 500,000 NFL tickets, with ticket prices sourced through Ticketmaster, and concluded that Buffalo now has the most expensive game-day experience in the league.
I’m not buying that, at least not without a lot more context.
There’s an important distinction being lost here: First are we including the secondary market in this discussion? Because the price of a Bills season ticket is one thing. A dynamically priced ticket sold directly by an NFL team is another. And the price someone lists that ticket for on the secondary market is something else entirely.
Ticketmaster itself explains that resale tickets are priced by the individual reseller and can be listed above or below their original face value. That matters quite a bit when we’re going to crown an NFL ORGANIZATION the “most expensive team to watch”. Because this makes it sound like the Bills are simply pricing out fans.
Even Ticketmaster acknowledges NFL ticket prices vary considerably based on the matchup, seat location, date, city, and when the ticket is purchased. So regarding the “average cost” of attending a game, when that snapshot was taken, what inventory was available at that moment, and from whom the ticket was being sourced matters enormously.
I paid roughly $650 for a lower-level corner end-zone seat in Atlanta, purchased directly from the Falcons, not on the secondary market. Atlanta is famous for its affordable concessions, and deservedly so, but the cheap hot dog doesn’t help much when you’ve already dropped hundreds of dollars just to get through the gate.
For Buffalo’s trip to Las Vegas this season, lower-level tickets directly through the Raiders have been hovering around $750 on average.
This isn’t just a Buffalo problem. It’s the NFL ticket market. Especially the Bills. Because they are a premium ticket and have been for the last six-plus seasons no matter where they play and pricing has everything to do with demand.
That’s why comparing the cost of a Bills home game against another team’s home game isn’t quite as simple as looking at Ticketmaster on a random summer afternoon and averaging what’s available.
The opponent matters. The date matters. The seat matters. And the timing of the purchase matters.
A Bills-Chiefs game on Thanksgiving isn’t the same product as a late-season game against a struggling New York Jets.
The real story here is the resale market. If we’re talking strictly about resale prices, then there’s a legitimate conversation to have about Buffalo being one of the most expensive NFL experiences right now. No argument from me there.
The resale market for the inaugural season at the new stadium has exploded. There is less inventory as the new Highmark Stadium seats roughly 61,000 fans, reducing capacity from the old stadium. There is enormous curiosity surrounding the first season in the building and as per usual there is tremendous demand for Bills tickets.
Add to this season-ticket members purchasing Personal Seat Licenses to secure their seats in the new stadium. Those PSLs ranged from hundreds of dollars for some upper-level seats to tens of thousands for premium locations. Do we really think season-ticket holders who paid thousands of dollars for the right to purchase their seats aren’t factoring some of that investment into what they’re willing to accept on resale?
Of course they are.
Then add the fees associated with buying and selling tickets through the secondary market, and suddenly a ticket that started at one number has grown several new limbs by the time another fan purchases it.
That’s the resale market at work.
But that isn’t the Bills sitting in a room deciding a family of four should spend more than $2,000 on Sunday afternoon.
My season-ticket increase tells a different story. The Bills are still one of the lowest season tickets to own in the NFL. With the move across the street my per-game season-ticket price increased approximately 15%. Would I prefer a zero-percent increase? Of course.
But considering the Bills moved into a brand-new $2.1 billion stadium with significantly fewer seats, I actually think the organization did a pretty good job of limiting the increase in the annual ticket price itself.
The PSL is another conversation entirely, and I’ve had plenty to say about that. But the PSL and the season-ticket price aren’t the same thing.
And can we talk about parking and concessions?
I’ve been to 25 of the NFL’s 30 stadiums, and Buffalo isn’t uniquely expensive. Especially when it comes to concessions. They would range right in the middle third of the league in my opinion. And most of us don’t mind a $13 pizza or a $16 basket of tenders and fries as long as it tastes worth it. That has been my argument with the game-day experience in the past. The food at Highmark didn’t match the cost. I’m looking for that to change with better culinary options in the new stadium.
There is another place where Buffalo’s game-day culture makes blanket comparisons difficult. You don’t have to park in an official stadium lot. Anyone who has spent a Sunday in Orchard Park knows that parking for a Bills game extends far beyond team-controlled lots. Private lots, businesses, and front yards have been part of Bills game day experience forever. And most of us prefer those options.
They’re mostly still within walking distance of the stadium and are substantially cheaper than parking at many NFL venues, with far better tailgating rules, and easier in and out access.
The Bills confirm that their controlled lots require advance parking passes, but the surrounding private parking ecosystem remains completely separate from the organization. That’s part of what makes Orchard Park different. Resales of parking passes are going to also be high because there’s a finite number of Bills controlled lots and again with demand and limited supply the prices increase.
You can spend a fortune if you want the closest or most convenient option. You can also walk a little farther, hand somebody cash to park in their yard and follow a stream of people wearing Josh Allen jerseys toward the stadium.
That isn’t exactly the parking experience surrounding every NFL venue.
The new-stadium premium is real, but it won’t last forever
There is also something happening in Buffalo right now that can’t be recreated next season.This is the first year. That creates an enormous initial surge in demand. As the season progresses, some of that novelty will wear off. Weather will get colder. Certain opponents will become less attractive. Teams will rise and fall in the standings. Sellers will become more motivated as kickoff approaches.
The market will adjust.
And by 2027, the new Highmark Stadium won’t be new anymore.
I fully expect ticket prices to stabilize once the initial rush of being part of the inaugural season disappears. Expensive? Yes. The NFL’s most expensive organization? That’s a different claim. I don’t normally defend the organization when it comes to financial matters because they get enough of my money, but I felt “bad” for the organization getting any negative attention for something they don’t control.
If Action Network’s conclusion is that the current secondary-market cost of taking a family of four to a Bills game is the highest in football, that’s an interesting discussion. One that is a positive reflection of where the Bills find themselves not only as one of the best teams in the NFL, with arguably the best player in the NFL, and the best fans in the NFL, and now the newest stadium in the NFL.
If the conclusion is that the Bills have suddenly made themselves the NFL’s most expensive team for fans to watch because they opened a new stadium and the Bills organization priced tickets and food and parking egregiously high, I’m going to push back.
I’ve bought tickets all over this league. I’ve paid outrageous prices in other teams’ stadiums. I’ve watched Bills road games turn into premium-priced events because Buffalo came to town.
So yes, watching the Bills in person in 2026 can be incredibly expensive. None of this is meant to pretend attending an NFL game is affordable for the average family. But let’s aim the outrage at the right target.
