Buffalo, 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.
Actor Bill Fichtner is always humble when talking about his upbringing in Western New York. The 68-year-old was raised in Cheektowaga, and is a graduate of Maryvale High School back in 1974.
The one thing Fichtner has always taken pride in is his love for the Bills, which dates back to the days the team played in the American Football League in the 1960s.
"I think the first game I ever went to to go see the Buffalo Bills was at the old War Memorial, the 'Rock Pile'. It probably was '63, might have been '64, going with my dad," said Fichtner in an interview with WBEN. "I remember it was me, my father, and Russ the Barber, who had Russ' Barber Shop on Union Road in Cheektowaga. So that was exciting. That was like, 'Oh my God, this is such a big stadium, and it's the Buffalo Bills, it's our team.' And then you get out to Highmark Stadium now, it was like, 'Woah, oh my God. We just blasted off into space.' It was amazing."
One of Fichtner's early memories of Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park isn't even with a Bills game, though he did make it too the stadium for a contest the first year it opened.
"What I do remember most of all is having our driver's ed teacher from Maryvale High School go out to the parking lots, because there was the parking lots were in and we had all this space so everybody could kind of practice parallel parking, pulling into a spot. And as we'd look over and go, 'Wow, there it is, man,'" Fichtner recalled. "It doesn't look that big, because you're only looking at the top portion. That was a whole big thing when you walked up to it, and most of it was down in the ground. But it's just so much history and so many incarnations of what our team has been over the years."
Fichtner admits any time he thinks or talks of his hometown, the Bills always come to mind.
"There's no doubt about it, we love the Sabres, we love the Bandits. I certainly love my hometown, but the Bills are the heart and soul of Buffalo, and it's their home," Fichtner said. "It's like when you get home, you drive home and it's like, 'Oh, thank God, I'm home. I've been traveling for a couple of weeks.' You go to a Bills game, and you are walking in to home, the heart of Buffalo. It's right out there, right out there in Orchard Park. That's what it means to me."
In his travels across the country, Fichtner has visited a number of stadiums to see football games, many of them being Bills games with his family. He feels Highmark Stadium has a certain charm to it that no stadium can compare to.
"I've been up to Oakland a couple of times to see games at the old Coliseum, and I remember going up there the first time maybe 10 years ago, 15 years ago, and the Coliseum was falling apart. And somebody said to me, 'Your stadiums as old as that.' And I'm like, 'Well, it may be as old as that and we might be in the weather conditions of Buffalo, but it doesn't look like this,'" Fichtner said. "Our stadium today, it's not bad, and it's built perfectly for football.
"What makes the current Highmark Stadium - sometimes I still call it Rich Stadium - I've been to the stadium in Dallas where the Cowboys play and let me tell you something: It's impressive. I mean, boy, talk about the bells and whistles. I've been to SoFi out here in L.A., which actually I tend to like the Dallas one a little bit better, even though it's quite a bit older. Our stadium up in Buffalo, the current Highmark Stadium, they added the club level later on. You've got to remember, when it first opened, I think it was kind of no frills and 80,000 seats. Now I believe it's down to 70,000, but things changed over the years. But it's still pretty much a no frills stadium by brand new stadium standards. Now, I have a feeling we're going to get something a little bit different across the street."
Fichtner understands how special of a time it is for the Bills and the Western New York community right now in the final year of Highmark Stadium. He even feels this is just as special for the reigning NFL MVP, Josh Allen.
"If ever there was a time to say goodbye to one, close one door and open up another, it's pretty cool that it's happening with the current leader of our team, Josh Allen. I love that we're going from one to the other," Fichtner said. "And I know, from things that I read, that that's a big deal for Josh. It's a big deal we're saying goodbye to this, his first home in the NFL, and going on to a brand new home in the NFL. I think all of it, the timing is perfect."
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Of all the players Fichtner has been able to catch playing at Highmark Stadium over the years, it is Allen that he has enjoyed watching the most in a Bills uniform.
"I so enjoy the fact of talking to people, whether they're Jets fans or this or that. I've got a lot of friends that used to live in New York, a lot of friends from New York, Giants, fans, whatever. Who doesn't like Josh Allen? He's just probably the most fun, exciting player - not probably, he is in the NFL right now," Fichtner said.
Another player Fichtner admired in his time playing for the Bills was a player many people loved for his role primarily on special teams.
"Over the years, I've always loved Steve Tasker. Just anytime Steve Tasker was on the field, odds are, he's going to be involved," Fichtner said. "It's just the way that it goes. I always thought that being around Steve was just super special."
In conversations he has with friends and others outside of Western New York, Fichtner always emphasizes the dedication and passion Bills fans have for the team.
"People are fans of other teams, and that's great. I appreciate it, be a fan of your team. That's great. I'm a fan of my team, but when people tell me, 'Oh man, we know how to tailgate and get ready!' And then I stop them right then and there and I'm like, 'Oh, but come on. Don't talk to me about tailgating. Don't talk to me about getting ready for a game in the parking lots and everything, and all the surrounding area around it.' There's no place like Buffalo," Fichtner said.
"When I get home and I go to a game, even before the kickoff, I'm excited about that, about what's happening. And I will tell you, is it great to be in the game? Of course it is. When we win, nothing's better. When we lose, nothing's worse. But when we win, it's walking out of the game that is so much fun, because all of that energy everybody put in to be in there and you walk out, the team's excited, they won, we're excited, it's just an awesome feeling."
While Fichtner is set to be in attendance for Sunday's matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Orchard Park, he says there is one time of the year he always hopes to make it back to Western New York for a Bills game.
"I love being around around the holidays," he said. "I remember a couple of years ago, I was home for a game against Miami, walking through the parking lot and there were holiday lights strung up between pickup trucks and someone popped out a Christmas tree. It was like, 'Ah, come on, only in Buffalo!' I just so enjoy it. I enjoy the people, I enjoy the experience and knowing that I'm home. It's great."
So what excites Fichtner the most about the new Highmark Stadium across the street on Abbott Road, set to open this coming July? For him, it's just the fact the region is finally getting an upgrade for the football experience.
"It was time. I know that people in the NFL, so I have read, they really wanted a new stadium for Buffalo. I'm excited because you take all of those people and all that energy, and all of that love for this team, and we're going to upgrade," Fichtner explained. "We're walking on a plane, and they're like, 'Oh, sir, you got upgraded. You're going up to first class today.' It's just like, 'Yeah!' We have an old stadium, we love it, but we're going to go across the street. It's going to be brand new, it's going to be something to celebrate."
Fichtner is also excited that the new stadium is very much designed like a stadium in England that he's heard plenty of praise over.
"I was over in England for a few months this past year working, and I the firm [Populous] that designed Tottenham Stadium in the [English] Premier League are the same guys. And I've heard, and it looks like from artists renderings and things, that it's similar in its shape and size," Fichtner said. "And I have to tell you, I asked people about that in the Premier League, because I went to a lot of Premier games when I was over there. Everybody, whether they're a Chelsea fan, Arsenal, [Manchester] City, [Manchester United], Liverpool, whatever, everybody talks about, 'Yeah, that Tottenham stadium, it's the nicest in the Premier League.' So that was always exciting, because I know that we're getting something like that. It's just why not? We're such an amazing team. Why not have an amazing stadium?"
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