Highmark Stadium is an American football stadium located in Orchard Park, New York, a suburb of Buffalo. It opened in 2026, serving as the home field of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL).
The stadium was built adjacent to Erie Community College's south campus across the street from where Ralph Wilson Stadium stood. The stadium was designed by Populous. The stadium has a seating capacity of 60,108, the smallest among NFL venues. However, the 63,000 total capacity (counting standing room-only possibilities) can reach 66,000 depending on the event. The new venue has a partial roof so that 65% of seats would be protected from the elements; the playing field is uncovered as Buffalo's reputation for cold, snowy weather often makes for compelling television and has long formed a part of the team's and city's identity.
The stadium cost $1.7 billion. Under an agreement with the state of New York, taxpayers paid $850 million of the construction cost (with $600 million coming from New York State and $250 million coming from Erie County). With the State of New York paying for all maintenance and repair costs, it is the largest taxpayer contribution ever for an NFL facility.
Groundbreaking began in June 2023, and the stadium opened on June 23, 2026. The Bills announced an extension to its existing stadium naming rights deal with Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Design
Highmark Stadium was designed by the architecture firm Populous in collaboration with the Buffalo Bills and Legends. The design was conceived as a football-focused, open-air stadium intended to preserve the effects of Buffalo's weather while providing greater protection for spectators than the team's previous stadium. Populous said that the design drew on Buffalo's architectural heritage and sought to create an intimate seating environment that emphasized the relationship between spectators and the field.
The exterior is characterized by a continuous colonnade of vertical fins extending around the stadium from ground level to the canopy. Perforated metal panels are positioned between the upper portions of the fins, providing protection from wind and precipitation while retaining the open-air character of the venue. The lower portion of the exterior uses iron-spot brick, while large openings at the north end zone and corners provide entrances into the stadium. The building's curved forms and rounded corners were intended to combine references to Buffalo's historic architecture with a more contemporary appearance. At the northeast entrance, the Family Circle plaza includes a sculpture depicting a family of American bison and serves as a gathering space for spectators and the wider community.
A 360-degree canopy covers the seating bowl. Rather than enclosing the stadium, the canopy follows the shape of the bowl and exterior facade, rising toward the center of the stadium and descending toward the end zones. The arrangement provides weather protection while leaving the field exposed to outdoor conditions. The canopy and surrounding facade were also designed to mitigate the effects of Buffalo's wind and winter weather without eliminating the outdoor environment associated with Bills games. Contemporary descriptions of the completed stadium report that the canopy covers more than 60 percent of the seating.
The seating bowl was designed with relatively steep, stacked seating to bring spectators closer to the field. Populous described the arrangement as being intended to create an intimate and intimidating environment and to enhance the visual continuity of the crowd. In particular, seating above the north end zone places spectators as close as 12 feet vertically from the field. The configuration was intended to improve the sense of proximity to the game and contribute to the stadium's home-field atmosphere.
The stadium's interior circulation is organized around 360-degree concourses, allowing spectators to move around the building while retaining views toward the field in many areas. The open concourse design represents a change from the more enclosed circulation areas of the previous stadium. The Bills and Populous also incorporated premium clubs, gathering spaces and other hospitality areas into the building, while maintaining the emphasis on football and spectator proximity. After the stadium's first large public events in 2026, observers noted the openness of the concourses and the improved sense of closeness to the field compared with the previous venue.
Weather considerations were incorporated into both the architecture and stadium systems. The open-air configuration allows snow, wind and cold temperatures to remain part of the game-day environment, while the canopy, perforated facade, enclosed circulation areas and snow-mitigation systems provide protection for spectators and the playing surface. The stadium uses a natural-grass field with an underground heating and snow-melting system. The resulting design was intended to balance the demands of Buffalo's winter climate with the Bills' preference for an outdoor football environment.
History Planning and approval The Buffalo Bills' lease included a provision allowing for the creation of a working group to explore options for either a new stadium for the team, or an extensive retrofit of the older Highmark Stadium.
The first major stadium proposal was presented in 2012. On October 23, George Hasiotis and Nicholas Stracick of Greater Buffalo Sports and Entertainment Complex, a Delaware-based LLC, presented a rendered plan created by architect firm HKS, Inc. to the Buffalo Common Council. The plan included a $1.4 billion, 72,000-seat retractable roof stadium, convention center, hotel and sports museum plan for the Buffalo Outer Harbor. At first this plan was met with some cynicism, in particular because of the feasibility of the project. On December 11, the company met with local AFL-CIO members to discuss the number of jobs created by the proposed project, which was said to be 10,000. Stracick also disclosed that there are "15 private, secret sponsors" willing to fund the project. He also stated that no tax money would be used to fund a stadium.
In January 2013, the group met with Erie County legislators, their second major appearance since October. During this meeting, the idea of having the Strong Foundation open a sports museum on the $1.8 billion premises was also strengthened. Howard Zemsky, chairman of the NFTA said that he was opposed to the project, referring to the idea of granting a nine to twelve month option on the waterfront land, saying simply "we're not doing that." In May 2013 the GBSEC submitted a $500,000 offer to the NFTA for the exclusive right to negotiate the purchase of of outer harbor land. On August 26, 2014, it was announced that the Outer Harbor site was no longer being considered, after a study showed that at least four bridges would need to be built to effectively service the increase in traffic.
On May 11, 2014, another proposal for an outer harbor sports complex was announced by Buffalo Sportz Complex, known as "Olympia Sports Park." This complex would have been located slightly south of the GBSEC proposed site. Thomas Dee, President of the Erie County Harbor Development Corporation, acknowledged the proposal but also noted that similar projects, including the GBSEC proposal, also existed for competition.
On February 10, 2014, Governor Andrew Cuomo's administration appointed Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy, Buffalo Niagara Partnership CEO Dottie Gallagher-Cohen and Empire State Development President Kenneth Adams to a new study board to discuss the feasibility and plans for a new stadium.
Later, on March 6, 2014, the County of Erie appointed its seven members to the board, including future New York State governor Kathy Hochul, then with M&T Bank, and Richard Tobe, the Deputy Erie County Executive.
Shortly after the death of team owner Ralph Wilson on March 27, 2014, the Bills selected their members for the panel, including U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, Bills CEO and President Russ Brandon, local developer Louis Ciminelli, Bills CFO Jeff Littman, New Era Cap Co. CEO Christopher Koch among others. The group's first meeting was held on April 1.
On August 26, 2014, it was announced that the Niagara Falls (which may have used a large plot being held by Howard Milstein) and Buffalo Outer Harbor sites had been ruled out based on similar issues with infrastructure related to the two sites.
On November 5, 2014, Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula joined the working group.
In mid–January 2015, AECOM, retained by the State of New York, released a report detailing suggested stadium sites based upon criteria of site size, cost of land, infrastructure and external development, among other factors. The study narrowed the search to four sites.
Initial planning and exploration The Pegulas indicated on July 31, 2015, that they had no immediate plans to pursue a new stadium. The situation remained unchanged as of November 2017. By March 2018, the Pegulas had entered the "very early stages" of exploring long-term stadium options for the Bills. In September 2018, the Pegulas stated that they would begin planning the new stadium, or possibly renovating the current one, after the November 2018 gubernatorial elections, as state funding would likely be required.
During the fall of 2018, PS&E hired consultant CAA ICON to handle stadium planning for both the Bills and the Buffalo Sabres, with no constraints on potential locations. Concurrently, Erie County has created a new stadium fund, for which $500,000 was set aside in 2018 with the same amount earmarked for 2019. The first focus groups were assembled in February 2019.
Mark Poloncarz, the current county executive of Erie County, New York, stated in 2012 that a stadium in the city of Buffalo would not be feasible, as too much property in the city remained in private hands, which would trigger an eminent domain lawsuit if it were seized to build the stadium. He reiterated those concerns in 2019, though in that case he stopped short of ruling out a stadium within the city so as not to disrupt negotiations.Whalen, Ryan (July 15, 2019). Poloncarz Says County Told State a Downtown Stadium Wasn't Feasible in 2012 . Spectrum News. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
During the January 2020 State of the League address, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated in regard to the Bills' stadium plans: “Those are things that the group has to settle collectively and to address over the next several months, if not sooner.”
On June 18, 2021, the Pegulas chose Legends Global Planning to represent ownership, consult on a new stadium and sell sponsorships and premium seats for the venue. In addition, an unnamed source claimed that the Bills were planning to build a new stadium in Orchard Park to replace Highmark Stadium, with two of the television stations in Rochester, New York reporting the unnamed source's claims as fact. A June 19 report from WGRZ also neither confirmed nor denied by any officials, stated that the Bills strongly preferred to build a new stadium and not attempt any further renovations on Highmark Stadium.
Financing In early August it was reported that Pegula Sports and Entertainment had made their first offer demanding full taxpayer funding of a new stadium in Orchard Park at a cost of $1.1 billion, part of a broader $1.5 billion package that would also include renovations to KeyBank Center, Buffalo's indoor sports arena. The Pegulas reportedly threatened to relocate the team to Austin, Texas if their demands were not met, though they had not contacted anybody in Austin prior to suggesting the idea.