Batavia, N.Y. (WBEN) - Construction has been well underway in Orchard Park along Abbott Road of a new state-of-the-art football stadium for the Buffalo Bills after several years of discussions to keep the team in Western New York for the long-term.
While excavation work has been ongoing for more than two months now, plans are for steelwork at the stadium site across from the current facility to start sometime shortly after the calendar flips to 2024.
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The excitement for a new football stadium for the Bills has been very prevalent over the last several months in Western New York, even if things appear to be a slow go for the construction at this time.
That excitement has also reached a few former Bills players, to varying degrees. This includes the likes of Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas, whose construction company, 34 Group, is currently overseeing the construction efforts of the new stadium in Orchard Park.
"It's great to see the progress the stadium has been in for the last couple of months, but you won't really see much of it until 2-3 years. It's coming along great, and guys out there are working as hard as they can to try to get this thing done by 2026," said Thomas on Monday while at the Jim Kelly Celebrity Golf Classic in Batavia.
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Thomas add it's important for his company and the other minority companies hired for this project to play their role in the construction of the new stadium. It's an opportunity many minority companies did not get a chance to have when the current facility was built back in the early 1970s.
"This is life-changing for a lot of minority companies. It's life-changing for my company and my employees. It means the world to the people that are involved with it, that are trying to get this thing accomplished," Thomas said.
For Kelly, himself, he, too, is excited for what's coming to Western New York and for the long-term future of the Bills. He can sense the excitement in the area, and what people are hoping to see when the new stadium is completed.
"The next couple of years are gonna be tough. It's gonna be tough for parking. I can't wait to see what happens, but people have to just be patient. It is what it is," said Kelly during his Celebrity Golf Classic. "It's part of the Buffalo community, it's a part of our home now, and it's a new home, which is awesome. We're gonna go through some tough times, as far as with parking and everything, but I can't wait until it's all done and we're playing in there, and we're starting a new tradition."
Kelly adds he's gotten a chance to look at the renderings from the team and loves the concepts that are presented for the new stadium. There is one stipulation he would like to see addressed with the future of the new stadium
"As long as they make sure in the wintertime, the sun is hitting the home team and not the visiting team," he said. "Whoever thought it up before that wintertime, the sun is hitting the Miami Dolphins in December, that doesn't work. When we go down there, the sun is hitting the Buffalo Bills in the summertime. So I just hope they understood that."
Former Bills linebacker Darryl Talley is also looking forward to what the new stadium will bring for the team in Orchard Park. However, there are some questions Talley does have once the new facility is completed and ready for game action.
"How deep is the thing gonna be in the ground? How bad is the wind going to affect it? Is it going to be in the ground as far as the other stadium? Is it going to be up higher or lower? Because all of that comes into play when you've got to play on the field, you've got a quarterback that's throwing the ball and you've got a kicker that's got to kick in. I want to know what those types of things are gonna look like for those guys," said Talley just before his tee time at the Jim Kelly Celebrity Golf Classic. "Right now, Rich Stadium can be a bit tricky if you don't know it. If you know some of the tricks of it, it can be made to be a lot of fun."
For some of the all-time franchise players that spent most of their NFL careers with the Bills, that excitement of the new stadium in Orchard Park may also bring with it the sense of letting go with the old stadium once it's slated to be demolished after the opening of the new Highmark Stadium.
For Thomas, he admits it will be a bit tough to part ways with the current facility, given its rich history and the memories made, especially during the team's Super Bowl era in the early '90s.
"When they finish it in 2026, I can't say I played in that one. But you've got guys like Josh [Allen] who will probably be playing in both of them," Thomas explained. "When that day comes for them to tear down Highmark, Rich or the Ralph, or whatever you want to call it, sure, there's gonna be a lot of memories that go down with it. But we're here to create new memories."
Despite that, Thomas does have one thing he wants to see once the new stadium is completed and opened for business come the 2026 season.
"I told [head coach] Sean McDermott, I said the one thing that I would love to happen when this stadium is finished, it's open and the first game day, bring the Lombardi Trophy into that stadium. That would make it even more special," he said.
Meanwhile, Talley says it's not going to be as difficult letting the current stadium go, because everything is in need of a change every once in a while.
"We have to change, we all have to evolve. It won't take any getting used to, because everybody will see something new and a shiny, bright new toy to play with on Christmas, everybody's gonna love that," he said.
As for Kelly, he agrees with Talley that it won't be so hard letting the old stadium go, other than the significant memories that he will always remember from his days playing in the NFL with the Bills.
"Memories of my first game as an NFL player running out against the [New York] Jets, and have my mom and dad, my five brothers and my high school football coach in the stands. Those are dreams that every little boy dreams about when he was a little kid growing up," Kelly said. "I never dreamt about the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I dreamt about playing in the NFL like every kid does. But to be able to do that, be able to run out my first game and look up, mom and dad were there, no longer is mom and dad gonna have to work in the steel mills or the cafeteria. They're gonna kick back, relax, and enjoy life the way it's supposed to be. I've been very blessed to be able to do what I do, be able to do what I did."
As for the future of the site of the current stadium in Orchard Park, Thomas is hopeful there is something in the cards to be able to attract more people to the region.
"I have no idea what they're going to do with that part of the stadium after it's gone. The stadium was there in 1973, and today, there's only O'Neill's, Big Tree that are around that. So yes, obviously I would like for something to be around in that area, where people can come to and have a great time," he said.
As for Kelly, he feels just a parking lot will be a good start for the site once the stadium is torn down, especially since parking around the stadium will be tight for the next three years.
However, the only thing he would like when the stadium is torn down is a couple of the seats as a memento to the years playing in that stadium.
"To me, that would be pretty cool, because it will always bring back that memory of having mom and dad in the stands. Even though they didn't sit many times in the outside, because my mother had emphysema and suffered pretty bad, but overall, just a thought of when I ran out there looking up, and mom and dad were there," Kelly said.
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