What is the Bills Stadium Experience? Here’s what we learned from a trip inside

AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) – Select Bills fans can begin securing their seats in the new stadium as soon as this week when the team’s new Stadium Experience opens Wednesday on Main Street in Amherst.

Admittance to the upscale venue, however, is by appointment only. And most season ticket holders won’t get inside until 2025.

The team is inviting season ticket holders in waves, based on current seat location and account seniority. Club seat holders get the first opportunity to partake in the immersive experience, which includes a 3D interactive view of any seat in the house and a chance to examine a detailed scale model of the new stadium, as well as other elevated experiences of suite-level membership.

With more than 60,000 season ticket holders, the team warns that it will take “quite some time” to schedule a date for everyone. Season ticket holders will get notified once they can sign up for a tour of the space but if you haven’t been contacted by the team, you can email [email protected] or call 716-815-7066. Non-season ticket holders can get an invite by joining the “priority list,” which requires a $150 deposit per seat on your 2026 season tickets.

News 4 had an exclusive opportunity to tour the Stadium Experience on Monday. We were not permitted to take photos or videos inside the facility, but could report on what we learned.

We came away thoroughly impressed with both the Stadium Experience and the stadium itself — and reminded that every impressive amenity comes at a cost.

Pricing, PSLs

News 4 was not made privy to exact pricing of any seat, club or suite, or to specifics on the cost of acquiring a personal seat license. But that information will be shared for the first time with those invited to attend.

The cost of a personal seat license has been much debated throughout the course of stadium negotiations, and the new stadium will mark the first time PSLs have been used in Western New York. A personal seat license is a one-time purchase that gives the licensee the right — and the obligation — to purchase season tickets.

The price tag on PSLs sold at other recently built stadiums has ranged from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars per seat, before the cost of tickets. But when we toured, we were told PSL prices will not be as high as other NFL stadiums.

“We talk about the stadium being built for Buffalo, we’ve also priced the PSLs for Buffalo,” promised Chris Colleary, vice president of ticket sales and service.

A licensee can sell their PSL at any point — possibly at a profit — but they’ll also forfeit their license if they fail to renew their season tickets.

After season ticket holders have been wowed at the Stadium Experience and had the chance to compare price points, they’ll have the opportunity to sign on the dotted line at the end of the tour. Those who lock in their seats get to hit a button on the wall that plays the “Shout” song, signifying their own version of reaching the end zone.

Full coverage of the new Bills stadium

Upscale experiences

At every step throughout the Stadium Experience, the team highlighted impressive benefits of joining the season-ticket club. The stadium will offer five separate premium seating locations, each with different amenities and sight lines. In a uniquely Buffalo twist, the most premium seating will be elevated on the 50-yard line, not at field level, because fan feedback indicated sightlines to the game were of the utmost importance no matter how posh the experience.

New shared common areas offer premium members the opportunity to mingle and entertain guests or clients while sampling various options of food and drink. Some clubs come with field access, while others will have the ability to fist-bump players walking from the locker room to the field, similar to an amenity available for Sabres season-ticket holders.

Ingress and egress for premium seat holders has also been given thought. Private parking lots are being designed with exclusive access roads that offer high-paying customers a jump on traffic leaving the stadium.

Full-scale suites available for guests to visit on the tour have the ability to show the exact sightlines from any location at the touch of a button. Suites come with outdoor, covered, heated seats that give guests a taste of the stadium atmosphere without the sting of the atmospheric conditions.

What else we learned

Fans partaking in the Stadium Experience are invited to pepper their tour guide with questions on matters large and small. Much of what we heard Monday had been revealed previously in interviews, news stories, and team-produced videos, but hearing it again alongside visual representations of the stadium connected some dots for us.

Row 1 sightlines: The first row of seats in the 100 level is elevated higher than in the current stadium, providing better sightlines for fans sitting closest to the field. Currently, fans can have difficultly seeing over equipment on the sidelines or even the players themselves. We’re told the first row will now be 10 feet off the ground.

Wall of Fame: The Bills Wall of Fame has been missing on renderings showing the inside of the stadium. The Wall of Fame will be moved outside the stadium to the “family circle” area surrounding the oversized buffaloes, where it can be accessed by fans 24/7.

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‘Unquestionably the loudest’: We knew the stadium will have a canopy that covers 64% of seats, offering some protection from the elements. What we didn’t realize is that the canopy will help make the stadium “unquestionably the loudest” in the NFL. The overhang will be made of steel, amplifying the crowd noise. The canopy at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, which the Bills stadium is modeled after, is made from a different material.

Weather: The Bills’ canopy will be built intentionally asymmetrical to help with wind flow over the stadium. The team contracted out to an Ontario, Canada company to help mitigate the wind from being a problem for fans and footballers on the field.

“They built a full-size scale model of the stadium, and then they fill it with all these little diodes and put it in a wind tunnel,” Colin Cook said, the vice president of the new stadium sales and marketing. “Little incremental adjustments (were made) to the height of a wall, a canopy, (and) orientation of the building. And they were testing with millions and millions of data points as to how that is going to perform in any number of conditions.”

Why doesn’t the new Bills stadium have a dome, again?

Soccer, other sports a go: The new stadium will indeed be suitable to host other sports, including international soccer. The current stadium is not wide enough to host soccer matches. While the field itself will be natural grass, areas outside the dashed yellow line at the edges of the field will be artificial so that they do not get destroyed by equipment and traffic on the sidelines. When other sports play on the field, those artificial patches will be replaced with grass.

Better leg room: Fans at the Stadium Experience will have an opportunity to sit in the actual seats that will be used in the stadium. The pitch, or leg room, between seats is an improvement, and some higher-priced seats will be wider than in the current stadium.

WiFi, cell service: Improved technology will allow for virtually no latency, the team said, allowing fans no delay using social media or sports betting apps, calling for a ride share, or any other uses of connected devices.

Press box: The press box will run along the length of the field. Broadcasters will be centered near the middle, with written press toward the end zone. Better elevator setup will help facilitate postgame media access, and interview rooms will be directly below the press box.

Open, warmer concourses: The stadium will include radiant heating, which will make the concourses warmer than the current ones. They will also be situated along the outside of the stadium walls, protecting fans from the elements, while also allowing people views of the field while getting food/drink.

Secure, public areas outside the stadium: Plaza space directly outside the stadium will be secured on gamedays but not ticketed, allowing fans an opportunity to safely enjoy family-friendly spaces whether or not they have a ticket. Tickets will be scanned at a later point. And the security to get in that space will be fast-paced; fans will not have to stop before walking through the gates.

Longer parking spaces: Tailgating ranked high on fan surveys as an element essential to keeping in the new stadium. To that end, parking spaces will be drawn longer so that fans can set up a tent or other tailgating space behind their vehicle without taking up another parking spot.

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Nick Veronica is a Buffalo native who joined the News 4 team as the Digital Executive Producer in 2021. He previously worked at NBC Sports and The Buffalo News. You can follow Nick on Facebook, Twitter and Threads. See more of his work here.

Kelsey Anderson is an award-winning anchor who came back home to Buffalo in 2018. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter.

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