Kenmore, N.Y. (WBEN) - Over the course of the 2025 football season, WBEN will reflect on the legacy and lore of Highmark Stadium in its final season, with a number of current and former players, as well as fans and others with deep connections and memories of the building that has played home of the Buffalo Bills since the 1973 season.
The Bills have been a lifelong passion for Del Reid, founder of 26 Shirts and one of the fans who kickstarted the "Bills Mafia" movement more than a decade ago. While growing up in a Bills household in Western New York, it was the '90s Super Bowl teams that saw his love for the team explode.
"I think about the first game I ever went to, which was a come-from-behind win on 'Sunday Night Football' back in 1990. I think of my uncle taking me a game that same year and seeing Randall Cunningham complete this amazing pass out of the end zone for a touchdown on the other end of the field - Bills still won that day, so it's OK," said Reid in an interview with WBEN.
"In that [Sunday night] game, I believe it was Steve Tasker who blocked a punt and Jamie Williams returned it for a touchdown. That must have been the first time in my life that I was around, at that time, 80,000 other people in a space, and I just remember being enamored with all the people there, and how big that stadium was. And how it just seemed like there's parking lots for miles. Just the enormity of it all, which is funny now, because you look at the new stadium that's being built and how massive that is. 14-year-old me looking at the current Highmark Stadium and just being enamored with its size, it would be interesting to be able to be that age again and view the new stadium through those same eyes."
It wasn't all happy memories surrounding the Bills in the years that followed, especially during the 17-year playoff drought. But no matter how tough times got in Buffalo, it was more so the special interactions with fellow fans that stood out to Reid at the stadium.
"At this point in my life, I have some memories I don't remember if I was actually at the game, or if it was an away game or whatever, because it all kind of blends together. But I do remember the interactions that I've had with my fellow fans, and my wife and my kids and everything in those stands and the high fives," Reid said. "I remember there was a couple that used to sit in front of us in a different set of seats I had back in the day, and every time the Bills scored, they'd give each other a kiss. Just little things like that, these funny traditions that fans have, and just how much of our relationships with each other relate back to that team."
In recent years, Reid's fandom reached new levels when he and his wife started bringing their daughters to almost every home game at Highmark Stadium.
"Sharing those in-person memories, it's just been so special," Reid said. "And the team's been so good too, so there's been a lot of celebrating, not commiserating as much. But bringing them to this amazing time in Buffalo Bills history has just been really special."
Related
Over the years, the "Bills Mafia" movement has taken off, with fans and others around the National Football League often referring to the fanbase as such. This is especially highlighted during prime-time games when fans outside Highmark Stadium can be seen supporting the Bills through-and-through.
Reid admits he's always careful when it comes to taking credit, because he knows Bills fans have always been known for an amazing fan culture.
"Tailgating did not begin the day that I tweeted 'Bills Mafia', and the Western New York, Buffalo, 'City of Good Neighbors', vibe, reputation did not start that day. I do believe that Bills fans had already proven their hardiness and their love for the game, and their love for the team and their love for each other through the drought. 'Bills Mafia', that term would only have taken off if everything was already there," Reid said.
"It's awesome to be a footnote in my favorite sports team's history, but at the same time, 'Bills Mafia' is something that belongs to everybody."
There have been a number of players to stroll through Buffalo over the years that Reid has admired playing at Highmark Stadium.
"LeSean McCoy. The fact that he was a Bill for even as short a time as he was, I remember just thinking, 'Remember how awesome it is to see a player of this caliber actually playing for the team.' That's pre-Josh [Allen], and now we're all spoiled," Reid said.
He also thinks plenty of some of the older players, like linebacker Darryl Talley, who was a staple of the Buffalo defense during the '90s era of Bills football.
"I know how much pride Darryl takes in his name being on the Wall of Fame. He's mentioned it so many different ways on social media over the years, how much pride he has," Reid noted. "It's really cool to think, because so often you think of players, they're just in it for the money and this is just a job to them. Which is their right as a employee of a business, it's their right to feel that way if they do. But to know there are players that have felt that strong of a connection and that much pride in the time they spent as a Bill, Darryl Talley always comes to mind, first-and-foremost. And then, obviously, you can go on with Jim Kelly, Thurman, Thomas, Andre Reed. These guys had amazing careers, and we got to watch that happen firsthand.
And, of course, the reigning NFL MVP has to get a mention in this conversation.
"Seeing Josh Allen run for that touchdown against the [Kansas City] Chiefs in the regular season last year, and just flexing into the camera in the end zone. There's so many great memories along those lines," Reid said.
When Highmark Stadium is set to be decommissioned and preparations are made for demolition, Reid hopes to be able to grab one item from the stadium before fans say goodbye for good.
"I want that Section 224 sign that we stand in front of every game over the past several years," he said. "My wife and I, we brought our girls to it, and we are seated right in front of Section 224, that sign. I really want it. I don't know how I'd be able to make that happen. I've leaned against it for so many years now, I would love if we could bring that home. But, at the very least, getting our bench, getting a piece of our bench or something like that would be cool."
Like so many in Western New York, there is only one ending for Highmark Stadium before the team moves into the new state-of-the-art facility this coming July.
"I really want to see an AFC Championship win," Reid said. "We've already been very spoiled as fans this year between 'Hard Knocks' and all these different things that have happened, Josh as the MVP, [it has] lined up for the team. It would be so storybook if we were able to leave that stadium knowing that the next time we entered, the new stadium, it could be as a Super Bowl champion. But to leave on a win in an AFC Championship, I think, would be the most special thing that we could ever luck into as fans."
While Reid is fond of the memories made and shared at the current Highmark Stadium, he couldn't help but jump the discussion over the new stadium and what excites him most about the Bills' future home.
"You go to away games sometimes, and it's very rare you'll go to an away game and you'll think, 'Oh, wow, our stadium beats this place.' And we love our current stadium and it has so many memories, but you look at the state of how things are built now. We went to Houston last year, and that stadium they have is just so massive, and to think that we're going to have something like that too," Reid said.
He adds the new stadium is that physical reminder or guarantee that the team is not going anywhere for a very long time.
"I often think about how so much of my fandom, my entire life, had this cloud of, 'The Bills might leave.' For them now to be in place with this stadium, a 30-year guarantee, is special," he said. "I think that's a huge thing that we don't really talk about that much anymore, is how spoiled we are in comparison to how it was for so long thinking, 'Well, if they wanted to, they could pick up and leave.' It's pretty much guaranteed now that that's not going to be the case."
Related
