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Bills' GM punk'd about size of bison statues at Buffalo's new stadium

The Buffalo Bills' new Highmark Stadium is set to open in summer of 2026. NFL analyst Pat McAfee is very concerned with the size of the bison statues and let GM Brandon Beane know.
Dec 3, 2017; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills mascot Billy Bison takes to the field before a game against the New England Patriots
Dec 3, 2017; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills mascot Billy Bison takes to the field before a game against the New England Patriots | Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images

The upcoming season will be the last for old Highmark Stadium, home to the Buffalo Bills, as the new Highmark Stadium is set to be finished in July of 2026.

While the new stadium is filled with fancy new stadium things, the one feature with which NFL analyst/host Pat McAfee and his crew seem to be obsessed is the size of the bison statues outside the stadium.

Bills' general manager Brandon Beane appeared on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday, and, in between topics such as James Cook's contract situation and the GM's testy WGR radio appearance from Monday, McAfee and one of his sidekicks tried to tell Beane that the size of the bison had been decreased from 16 feet to five feet so "you put a quarter in and [ride] 'em."

Beane didn't bite, smiling, "No one said you're puttin' a quarter in!" When asked about the size of the bison statues, Beane continued to play his part, "Believe me, I've been lobbying hard to make sure these things are big. What size are we looking for here?" After a suggestion from a sidekick for 50 feet high, McAfee settled on something a bit more reasonable, "If you could say it was a 20' bison -- I think that's the goal."

RELATED: Buffalo's new Highmark Stadium will help Bills surpass the Chiefs

The Pat McAfee Show has been a bit obsessed with Buffalo's new bison statues for over a year now. In March 2024, when plans for the stadium were revealed in a video, McAfee and his guys had plenty of questions and comments.

"We're spending a lot of time on scale, size, what they look like. It'll give fans kind of an idea of how big we think they should be, which I know there's a ton of debate about," Frank Cravotta, Bills SVP of new stadium design said at the time.

One Buffalo fan dropped into the comments of the post above and had a suggestion: "[The bison statues] need to be 17 feet tall after Josh wins the Super Bowl MVP." Guessing that would be a solution that McAfee, Beane and every member of the Bills Mafia could get behind.

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Brian Letscher
BRIAN LETSCHER

A Michigan native, Brian graduated from the University of Michigan in another century, where he earned a degree in economics and a Rose Bowl Championship ring while playing football for the Wolverines under Head Coach Gary Moeller. Brian went on to coach Division 1A football for several years before becoming a full-time writer and actor while maintaining an unhealthy interest in sports. He is currently developing a scripted television series, THOSE WHO STAY, based on a series of historical fiction articles he wrote about Bo Schembechler's Michigan football program as they struggle to unite and win the championship - which requires beating #1 Ohio State - during the tumultuous civil rights and anti-war movements of 1969.