Pittsford, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The Buffalo Bills are just about a year away from making the move across the street on Abbott Road into the new Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park. To this point, construction of the state-of-the-art facility remains on schedule to be ready for the 2026 season of football.
When the new stadium was announced and later agreed upon back in 2022, the Bills announced they would be introducing Private Seat Licenses (PSLs) for all Bills Season Ticket holders. PSLs are a paid license that entitles the holder to the right to buy Season Tickets for a certain seat in a stadium.
The process of selling PSLs for the new stadium was slow, at first, but Bills and Sabres' Chief Operating Officer Pete Guelli says the sales have been going much better in recent months.
"When I first got here, we were going through this whole kind of premium process, and everyone felt like we needed to get through that first. I think people were a little concerned, maybe a little impatient, which you completely get," said Guelli while appearing on the "Jeremy and Joe Show" from Bills training camp. "We've really made an effort to get everybody through. We're literally now into the last wave of Season Ticket holders, so almost everybody's been through the building, or through this process."
Along with ensuring all Season Ticket holders the chance to choose their seats for the new stadium, the Bills have prioritized an affordable price point for all fans, no matter where their seats are.
"We were saying that from the beginning, that there would be a price point for everybody. We would lower the barrier to entry. We want everybody from the current stadium be over there. We don't want it to be an impediment," Guelli acknowledged with Jeremy White and Joe DiBiase on WGR. "In a lot of ways, you had to start with some of those higher-priced products. What was interesting is how they moved really quickly, and we sold through them really quickly. So it wasn't an issue for a lot of people. There's a lot of people, I think, that wanted to be in those premium areas. Once we got through that and started moving into the lower and upper bowl, then the process really escalated and went very fast."
Guelli adds the team is already down to the $1,000 PSL price point now, with there likely to be another drop in the price point coming in the near future.
With the construction of the new stadium came the possibility of bringing new events to Western New York. One of the biggest events the Bills have their sights set on is hosting the NFL Draft.
"Every single year, you basically have to resubmit your expression of interest. We did that again," Guelli said. "As we started looking at the overall landscape, the new stadium coming online, when the old stadium is going to come down, from a timing perspective, it felt like '29, '30 would be better for us. Put us in a better position to kind of execute things."
"We sent a team down to Green Bay, and they looked at the layout there and how that was set up. The layout's important, making sure it's authentic to the market is really important. We try to make sure we have time to check every single box, and be ready for something like that."
Along with the new stadium, Bills fans will soon find some new and improved parking lots and tailgating lots around the facility. The addition of larger lots and different points of entry and exit gives Guelli hope for smoother traffic for fans come game day.
"I think it's going to be better," he said. "There's a number of different entry points, the way it's set up, the way they're going to handle Abbott, kind of moving forward. I think we're hopeful, because that's the process. It's not just about the game. It's when you leave your house and what it takes to get there, and what are your plans for tailgating, and what's it like when you walk into the building, and how is it on exit? So obviously we've had a lot of experience in the old building, and we've seen how that worked.
"We feel like we're in a good place there. We haven't rolled anything out yet, but that's definitely something we've been working on."