A sign is just a sign until it isn't

If you drove past the new stadium on Abbott Road anytime over the last couple years, you saw steel going up, then concrete, then glass. You watched it look more and more like something real. But Wednesday, April 15, was the day it crossed a line. Construction crews finished installing the Highmark Stadium letters on the north facade of the new Bills home across the street from the old one in Orchard Park. The sign is up.

For an NFL team that has been working toward this moment since a groundbreaking ceremony in June 2023, the letters on the facade are more than cosmetic. They are the visual cue that turns a construction site into a stadium.

The old place starts coming down

At the same time the new place is getting its name, the old place is getting taken apart. Earlier in April, the Bills announced that crews have begun a phased deconstruction of the original Highmark Stadium.

That building has had a lot of names. It opened as Rich Stadium in 1973. It was Ralph Wilson Stadium from 1998 to 2015. New Era Field from 2016 through 2019. Bills Stadium in 2020. Then Highmark Stadium from 2021 until it closed after the 2025 season. Fifty-three seasons of Bills football under one roof, more or less. The last regular-season game there was a 16-14 win over the New York Jets on January 4, 2026.

The plan is to take it down in phases while the new one finishes up. Once the new stadium opens, full demolition of the old one is expected to be completed by March 2027. Where the old stadium stood will become parking for the new one.

What the new stadium will look like

The new Highmark Stadium is being designed by Populous, the architecture firm that designed Sahlen Field in downtown Buffalo and twelve other active NFL stadiums. Capacity is listed at 62,000 seats, with a standing-room-only deck bringing total capacity closer to 67,000. That is about 9,600 fewer seats than the old place, which held 71,608.

The total project cost is estimated at $1.7 billion. New York State is contributing $600 million, Erie County $250 million, the Bills $350 million, and the NFL $200 million through a G-4 loan. The team signed a 30-year lease with a buyout option after 15 years, and the stadium will be owned by New York State.

About 65% of the seats will be covered by a cantilever roof to keep the wind and snow off fans. Fans in the field-club section will be able to watch players enter and exit the field from underneath the stadium bowl. The playing surface is natural grass, with turf around the benches to minimize wear. The only exception is a grass practice zone reserved for kickers.

The bison statues and Family Circle

Plans also call for three giant American Bison statues in an area called Family Circle. A bull, a cow, and a calf. The tallest stands 27 feet off the ground, 30 feet long, and weighs 23,000 pounds.

Those details come straight from the team. For a franchise whose entire identity is built around a red bison on a blue helmet, three of them in bronze at the front door of the new building feels right.

The timeline from here

Team leaders expect to receive the keys to the new stadium sometime in June. Soft opening events are scheduled for July. The annual Return of the Blue and Red practice, which for years has been held at St. John Fisher University in Pittsford, is moving to the new stadium on August 8. It will be the first major event in the building for fans. Tickets are usually free and available first come, first served.

Preseason games begin in August. The team is expecting the building to be roughly 98% complete when the season kicks off.

The tickets are gone

Every Personal Seat License for the new stadium has sold out. Pete Guelli, the Bills' executive vice president and chief operating officer, thanked fans in Western New York, Southern Canada, and across the United States for what he called a remarkable response. Fans who still want in are being pushed to the priority list, which gets first access to season tickets when they become available and first access to single-game standing room tickets.

The schedule at the new place

The Bills announced that the 2026 home schedule features visits from the New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Detroit Lions, and Chicago Bears. Which one gets to christen the building in the first regular-season game has not been confirmed, but the Bills revealed an Inaugural Season logo back in February that players will wear as a patch for the first game in September.

What gets left behind

Fans can still purchase seats and other souvenir items from the old stadium through buffalobills.com/stadiumseats. The program launched in phases, starting with stadium and bleacher seats.

There is something strange about watching the building where the Music City Miracle happened, where the No Goal playoff game still stings, where 53 Decembers of Bills weather played out, get pulled apart in sections. And something new about driving past a facade that finally says Highmark Stadium on the other side of the street. Both things are happening right now in Orchard Park. The sign is up. The old place is coming down. Summer gets here soon.