Williamsville, N.Y. (WBEN) - Buffalo Bills' Season Ticket members will soon get their chance over the next several months to get a highly-anticipated sneak peak at the new Highmark Stadium that's currently being constructed along Abbott Road in Orchard Park.
The Bills revealed Tuesday evening on their YouTube page an exclusive inside look at the Bills Stadium Experience, the official preview center for the new state-of-the-art football stadium, located in the Walker Center in Williamsville. The experience center offers fans an interactive look at every aspect of the new Highmark Stadium set for completion ahead of the 2026 season.
The venue is by appointment-only, with Season Ticket members having priority access to visit and select seats in the new stadium. Season Ticket members have been introduced to a dedicated new stadium account executive, who have guided them through the transition to the new stadium and answered any questions about the process.
Season Ticket members will be invited in waves to the Stadium Experience, and get a chance to view seating options for the new stadium.
Club and suite seat members will be the first groups invited to review currently available club options. From there, remaining accounts will be invited based on current seat location and account seniority as additional seating options are made available.
All current Season Ticket members will have access to comparable or better seats than their existing experience when invited to the Stadium Experience.
With thousands of Season Ticket accounts, it will take quite some time for each Season Ticket member to have their opportunity to visit and select seats. That is why the Bills are asking Season Ticket holders to remain patient over the coming weeks and months before receiving their invite for the Stadium Experience.
Following Season Ticket Members, priority list members will be invited to visit the Stadium Experience. To join the priority list by placing a deposit, please click here:
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Highlights of the Stadium Experience include a scale model of the new stadium and surrounding footprint, interactive touchscreens that showcase key features of the venue, and an immersive digital 3D model offering a view from every seat in the building.
The venue also features a full-scale model suite showcasing the reimagined premium experience in the New Highmark Stadium.
The new Highmark Stadium offers many different seating options, benefits and amenities compared to the current stadium. The Bills say it is crucial that every Season Ticket member has the opportunity to visit, evaluate their options, and choose the seats that match their desired game day experience.
The team also says just like the new Highmark Stadium set to be built in Orchard Park, the Stadium Experience is built for Buffalo, and built by Buffalo. A number of local trades and vendor companies were actively involved in the creation of the experience from concept to buildout.
John Cimperman from Barnstorm Sports and Entertainment says the opening of the Stadium Experience center is a very important part of the process before the stadium opens in 2026.
"Investing in sports and entertainment, obviously, it's a very emotional sale, so it's really important to create that preview center experience that gives people a real taste of what the new venue is going to be all about," Cimperman said in an interview with WBEN.
Cimperman says this is a common practice for new venues, no matter where the market happens to be.
"When I was part of opening up Staples Center in Los Angeles and, quite frankly, even Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, we built out full preview centers for fans to experience the new venue. The difference today, however, is there's more technology, virtual reality and things of that sort that can really bring the venue to life."
While the Bills have preached patience in this process with Season Ticket members and other fans, Cimperman knows it will take some time before some Season Ticket Holders are able to get their chance to view the experience and secure their place in the new stadium.
"It is really important that legacy ticket holders, legacy premium seat holders get that first opportunity to purchase. It'll definitely be a few months of that process," Cimperman said. "It's important to get it started, as they are now, and hopefully over the summer, most, if not all of the [club and suite] holders have had a chance to walk through the experience."
And after every Season Ticket member and priority list member have gotten their chance to roll through the Stadium Experience center, Cimperman would like to think there will be chances for other diehard Bills fans to get their own taste of what's to come at the new Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park.
"I would expect a roadshow, of sorts, for the new stadium, where they take parts of the experience and bring it out to communities. That, quite frankly, may reach into Southern Ontario, may reach into Rochester," Cimperman speculated. "I think the preview center is really the hub of where it starts, but I would expect there'd be other ways for people to experience the new venue beyond the preview center in Williamsville."