Digging In: Bills' Stadium Groundbreaking Signals Permanent 'Home'
The Buffalo Bills may or may not be landing free-agent receiver DeAndre Hopkins. But they are for sure getting a new stadium.
On Monday morning across Abbott Road from the Bills' headquarters and Highmark Stadium, team and city officials held the groundbreaking ceremony for a new stadium scheduled to be ready for the 2026 season. After years of negotiating, the Bills, New York state and Erie County agreed to a 30-year lease and non-relocation parameters that make it difficult - if not impossible - for the NFL's second-smallest market team (behind only the Green Bay Packers) to ever leave "home."
When founder and former team owner Ralph Wilson died in 2014, there was concern about the team potentially being moved out of Buffalo.
"Ralph would be be proud," Mary Wilson, Ralph Wilson's widow, told ESPN. "The Bills are never leaving western New York."
The ceremony was attended by Bills' CEO Ron Raccuia, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Bills owner/CEO Terry Pegula and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
"While Buffalo isn't one of the larger NFL markets, the days of us operating as a small-market team are in the past," Raccuia said. "On the field, we've become a national brand, gaining national attention and attracting national opportunities. Our fans stretch across the country and the world, and as an organization, we carry this banner with commitment and pride."
Built at a cost of $1.5 billion, the new outdoor Highmark Stadium will seat about 63,000 Bills Mafia fans. It will have stacked seating and a giant canopy to protect fans from Buffalo winter weather.
The Bills have played in current Highmark Stadium since 1973, making it the NFL's fourth-oldest stadium.
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