Batavia, N.Y. (WBEN) - The 2026 season is a significant one for the Buffalo Bills, as the team has officially made the move to the new Highmark Stadium after three years of construction to build the state-of-the-art, football-first facility along Abbott Road in Orchard Park.
The new stadium replaces the old Highmark Stadium, a building that served as the home of the Bills since 1973, and is now nothing more than piles of concrete and steel rubble across the street.
While there are some gripes from fans with the new Highmark Stadium - particularly with sight lines and obstructions to the playing field - the reception to the new stadium has been overwhelmingly positive.
But what about some notable Bills Legends? What do they think of the new $2.2 billion stadium?
"I haven't been there in a while, probably about a month, month-and-a-half, but I love it," said Bills Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly. "I know there's some kinks that they got to work out, I get that, I understand it, but it'll take some time to get it to be perfect. But overall, I've had so many people; my son-in-law Parker went, my daughter Erin went, they loved it. They thought it was absolutely awesome. So I can't wait."
While Kelly admits it will probably take him a bit to get back to the stadium, he's excited to take in the new stadium with the rest of his family and hopefully cheering the Bills to many victories this year.
"What's good is I'm in an area where it's the overhang. So if it rains, I'm safe. If it snows, I'm safe - I don't have to do any shoveling out, which is awesome," Kelly said with a chuckle. "And then, of course, they surprised us - me and Thurman [Thomas] walked out onto the field when we did the ribbon cutting for the stadium. We walked out there not knowing that when I looked up, they said, 'See anything different?' I'm looking around thinking, "Oh, I've been here before, not really.' And they [pointed up], and I go, 'Oh my!' I realize that they put me, Bruce, Thurman, and Mr. [Ralph] Wilson up on the wall, which is pretty cool."
Bills Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas, whose construction company 34 Group was tasked with overseeing construction efforts of the new stadium in Orchard Park, has also heard nothing but positive reviews of the experience.
"The Bills have done a great job, [Gilbane-Turner] have done an outstanding job, Populous did a great job with the architecture and things like that. I'm sure you're gonna have a couple of critics out there saying this-and-that, but Buffalo deserves this," Thomas said at Kelly's celebrity golf tournament on Monday. "I don't think they could have went another year with with playing in the old Highmark, so this is great for Buffalo. Obviously, we've got one of the better teams in the National Football League, and I think that fits with this new stadium. So looking forward to having that first night game Thursday against Detroit, and go from there."
Although Thomas admits that he, too, hasn't been in the new facility in a bit, he says from the stadium being just a concept on paper to now having a building ready to host football games, it's been an incredible journey for so many people that worked on the stadium.
"It's needed, it was wanted in Buffalo," Thomas noted. "People forget not too long ago, we were in limbo of whether we would have a football team or not. So now we've got a great football team, and now we've got a great stadium. It all adds up, and I'm just proud to be a part of it. Proud to be a part of the stadium build, and fortunately for us, we still have a good football team, and it should be rocking and rolling pretty soon."
Even though Thomas admits he and a number of former Bills players hold the old stadium close to the heart, the time was right to usher in a new chapter in Western New York.
"A lot of memories were in that stadium, but like everybody's been saying, and I've been saying, it's time to create new memories," he said. "You can roll back all the highlights you want to in the old Highmark, but let's move forward. Let's move forward and get some more memories in the new Highmark Stadium. And, like I said, it should be a great year for this football team, and what better way to kick it off if we can have the No. 1 seed going into the playoffs and being right there at the new Highmark?"
"I mean, it looks grand, but I'm sentimental and my heart will always be with our stadium, Rich Stadium. I'll never call it anything but Rich Stadium, and that's where my memories are," admitted former Bills linebacker Cornelius Bennett. "I know one day I'll get a chance to go see the new stadium, but I'll still be looking across the street."
When reflecting on the old stadium in Orchard Park, Bennett says it will be his first day as a member of the Bills that will always stick with him.
"The day I got traded here, my first time walking in the stadium, seeing 80,000 crazy fans. My Day 1 there, every time if I go over there, I want to go down the same way I went in when I first got here, just to reminisce. This is where my dream became a reality," Bennett said with WBEN.
While his love will always remain with the stadium that was across the street, Bennett knows the new Highmark Stadium symbolizes a new beginning for the Bills.
"I know the energy will still be there from the fans or whatever. You can't stop progress, that's in everything. The memories will always be there, I'm sure they have something around that'll remind us old guys of what it was like. But you can't stop progress, and it is what it is. It's a beautiful facility, and the team is still here," Bennett said. "You don't have to never worry about the team leaving Buffalo, that's the No. 1 thing for me. The team's staying here, and you don't have to worry about that."
As for Bills Wall-of-Famer Steve Tasker, he was able to work the television broadcast this past Saturday for the team's preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers. He can't get over just how gorgeous the new stadium is in person.
"I think there's still a little bit of 'oohs and ahhs' going on with it. It's got so much more than the former Highmark did, you just forget that some of the stuff they have in it was even available," said Tasker in an interview with WBEN. "The fact that you can see the field from everywhere, the concourses, the standing room onlys - every level has cool stuff that you need to go see and you want to explore. Obviously for broadcasting, the technology is now in this century. There's just so much about it that's great, and it really is a spectacularly beautiful place. And they did a lot of work towards making it a Buffalo-only spot too. All that stuff's fun to explore and realize that, 'Oh, I didn't really realize this is here.' So all that stuff is still brand new. And for us, even doing the game this last Saturday, there's so much to talk about. Outside the stadium, inside the stadium, I think the fans are really going to love it, and I just can't wait to see them in it."
The new stadium certainly exceeded Tasker's expectations. He knows somebody did their research on what's going on in other stadiums and what could and should be included at the new Highmark Stadium.
"I've been to almost every other stadium in the NFL, more than there are now - some of the teams don't even play in the venues I've been in. And most of it, when I was traveling around doing games, I'd go up to the broadcast booth and kind of go out, I wouldn't really walk around the concourses and stuff like I had at former Highmark and some of the other venues. And to realize that somebody has put in a lot of thought and gotten a lot of input from fans about what a stadium really needs and what makes it cool, it's present in this one," Tasker said. "It's kind of like, 'Oh wow. OK, cool.' They spared no expense. They did a really good job with it."
The Bills will host an open practice for non-Season Ticket and PSL holders at the new stadium Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m. The team's next game action at the stadium will come in the preseason finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday, Aug. 27.
Buffalo opens the 2026 regular season home schedule on Thursday, Sept. 17 against the Detroit Lions.
