Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN) - Demolition of the "old" Highmark Stadium is already underway along Abbott Road, while the "new" Highmark Stadium is in the final weeks before officially welcoming home the Buffalo Bills.
Demolition of the stadium started with the removal of seats and other items that have been sold off as memorabilia over the last several weeks. It was only three weeks ago when excavators and other heavy equipment arrived on scene to start tearing down the 53-year-old stadium.
"The demolition did start a little sooner than we thought, which the idea was to get it started, with regards to the removal of the seats, before this new stadium opened. But they've removed so much of that that they've been able to move on to the next phase, which is starting some demo as well," said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
According to Poloncarz, there's been more than $5 million in sales so far for stadium memorabilia, which is well above his and the county's expectations through this process.
"We were hoping that we could get $2.5 million in sales and they doubled it, so it's been good," Poloncarz said. "It's not totally surprising, people love their Buffalo Bills, and a lot of folks who were Season Ticket holders are actually buying their seats."
Poloncarz believes the memorabilia will continue to remain available for purchase until there is no longer demand.
"I think you can still get some stuff, there are things that are sold out. There were pieces of the goal posts they had split in four inches, those are sold out. But there are still seats that are available," he noted.
"I'm not certain if they've reached their limit on sales. ... Most of the valuable items are gone, a lot of the stuff that could be resold, such as tables, chairs, things like that is out of there."
As crews continue the demolition of the old stadium, there are still a number of seats and other items within the stadium that have yet to be removed. Poloncarz says there still may be items to be taken out of the stadium and potentially sold online.
While construction is not fully complete with the new stadium just yet, Poloncarz says if needed, the Bills could play a game there today.
"There's no concessions completed yet, they're in the process of doing that, so people would be hungry and thirsty, but you could sit in your seats and watch a football game. It's really at that point right now," he noted. "Two months from now, that stadium is going to be open, people are going to be in it. And then they'll be watching, when you're inside the stadium, you can look across and see the demo that's actually going on with the existing stadium."
Once the new Highmark Stadium has been deemed "substantially completed", it's at that point when ownership of the stadium turns over from Erie County to New York State. Then New York State would officially turn over the keys, so to speak, for the new facility to the Bills. Poloncarz does note the county will still be involved in a number of things with the new stadium and the surrounding properties once this process is completed.
As for the old stadium site, the plans right now are for crews to fill in the massive hole left by the stadium with the shale and dirt that was taken out for the new stadium across the street.
"Then eventually that site would be primarily used for parking, while the goal is to identify, 'Here's where the end zone is, here's where the 50-yard line would be.' But the long-term goal would be to fill in the site using the big mound of dirt that exists there and turn it into parking," Poloncarz noted.
One site that will remain county-owned once the stadium is completed nearby is the South Campus for Erie Community College. Poloncarz says the ultimate goal for the campus and the buildings on site will be to revitalize them and turn them into a useful entertainment district.
"Right now, they're teaching out a couple programs, and at the end of the semester, then that'll be the end of all college work at that site. And then we'd go to the next step, which is, 'Are we going to sell it, or are we going to try to control the site and work with the developer to turn it into an entertainment district?'" Poloncarz said.
Poloncarz, as well as New York Gov. Kathy Hochul continue to maintain that construction of the new stadium remains on time.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz says memorabilia sales for the old stadium continue
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz says memorabilia sales for the old stadium continue
