Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN/WGR Sports Radio 550) - Opened in 1973, Highmark Stadium has served as the home for professional football in Western New York for 52 years. However, the 2025 Buffalo Bills season will serve as the stadium's swan song.
Across the street from the current facility sits the new Highmark Stadium, a state-of-the-art football-first facility still under construction along Abbott Road that is slated to open come July 2026.
To commemorate the final season of football at Highmark Stadium, the Bills unveiled a special "Farewell Season" logo for the 2025 campaign on Tuesday as part of a bigger plan to say goodbye to the team's longtime home.
"The 2025 Buffalo Bills season will mark the end of an incredible chapter at Highmark Stadium. As we prepare to continue our legacy at our new location across the street, we will create lasting memories during our Farewell Season," the team said in a statement on Tuesday.
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John Cimperman, owner of Barnstorm Sports and Entertainment and a longtime sports business executive, says this upcoming season is an opportunity for the Bills to relish in the lasting memories of Highmark Stadium.
"There's 50 years of tradition, 50 years of memories, of the Bills and what was Rich Stadium, now Highmark Stadium. So it's really important, and I think the team will do a lot of events to commemorate those memories and those players, and those traditions of the Bills," said Cimperman in an interview with WBEN.
Cimperman has been fortunate enough to help close and open three different venues in his career, and has a good idea of what the Bills will have in store to bid its longtime home a proper farewell.
"You'll see a lot of alumni coming back into the building, you'll see some throwback merchandise, some throwback uniforms to really give fans a chance to remember the memories, and pay tribute to what happened in that building," Cimperman said.
The Bills said Tuesday they do plan to have merchandise paying tribute to the stadium released at a later date, while also wearing the Farewell Season logo as a patch on their uniforms during a single home game this coming season.
Cimperman expects the final season at Highmark Stadium to come with plenty of emotion.
"These are traditions that are carried down from generation, so even though the team is just moving literally across the street, there's traditions on where you tailgate and the friends you meet, and all the communal parts of going to a game. So I think you're going to have some emotion. I'm not going to say necessarily tears, but you'll definitely have emotion, because those are traditions that have lasted a lifetime for many fans," he said.
Perhaps the peak of emotions for fans with Highmark Stadium will come towards the end of the regular season, regardless of whether or not the team makes the playoffs.
"A lot of people who either may be going to the new stadium with their seats or may not, the seating location is going to change, the people you're sitting around is going to change. There's going to be emotion," Cimperman said. "I guess the positive side, though, is they'll be looking across the street at a brand new state-of-the-art, shiny new venue. So I think that will lend the positive of looking forward, but obviously there's going to be some emotions and some farewells in the old building as well."
The Bills will have nine home games on the regular season schedule, plus one home preseason game for fans to get a final chance to catch the team playing at a venue close to many people's hearts. Cimperman feels it may be more difficult to get tickets to home games this season, especially if the Bills continue their dominance of the AFC East.
"Obviously, the way the team has been playing, it's already difficult to get into a game. But I do think for, especially, those legacy Season Ticket holders who have been there for years-and-years, they'll have a place and a chance to experience those memories," he said. "And I think there'll be other ways for fans to commemorate the stadium, whether it's, pregame festivals, whether it's some ancillary events that the team hosts in-and-around the stadium. I think there'll be plenty of ways for all fans to experience those memories."
And what becomes of the old Highmark Stadium once the Bills officially move in to the new facility across the street? Cimperman says that will be a great opportunity for the team to generate some revenue for local charities and non-profits.
"Hopefully there'll be an opportunity for fans to purchase a seat or purchase a square of the turf, and hopefully all those funds that are raised go to help some other local not-for-profit. That's something I would expect to happen," he said.
The Bills will open their 2025 campaign at home on Sept. 7 against the Baltimore Ravens on "Sunday Night Football".
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