Verizon is the neutral host Distributed Antenna System (DAS) provider for the new Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, home of theBuffalo Bills NFL team and their loyal fans, the "Bills Mafia."
The new stadium is scheduled to be completed by next season's kickoff, in fall of 2026. It will be able to seat 60,000 fans with the option to add capacity for hosting special events.
Verizon is also the official 5G and technology partner for the new Highmark Stadium, Jake Kornblatt, VP of Global Enterprise for Verizon Business, told Light Reading.
The three main components of Verizon's partnership with the Bills includes the DAS, C-band and mmWave deployments and a private 5G wireless network, said Kornblatt.
"So with C-band being our midband and mmWave being our highband spectrum, both of those were actually deployed in the existing Highmark Stadium over the last 12 to 18 months and will carry over to the new stadium," said Kornblatt.
The DAS will also extend outside the stadium, with additional radios and 5G technology, to the parking lots to support connectivity for tailgating Bills fans. Over 20,000 people tailgate at Bills games, he added.
Buffalo's tailgating culture is legendary. With more than 30 losing seasons in the last 50 years, unfazed fans show up by the thousands before each home game. In the previous five years, though, they've had much more to cheer about as Buffalo has racked up 60 wins over 81 games. In 2024, the Bills' home record was a perfect 8-0, a feat not achieved since 1990. There's every reason to expect that next season the parking lots will be more crowded and festive than ever before each kickoff.
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Since many of those thousands of tailgating fans never enter the stadium, but watch the game, stream videos and message friends from the parking lots, it was essential to extend connectivity from the DAS to outside the stadium.
During construction of the new stadium, Verizon has set up temporary Wi-Fi access points. But Verizon likely won't need network support from temporary mobile assets once construction is complete, explained Kornblatt.
As the neutral host DAS provider, Verizon leads the design, installation, deployment and management of the 5G network but can also support other wireless service providers, namely AT&T and T-Mobile, on its network.
"Other carriers will work with us to be able to bring their technology to connect into the system as well. In that way, the three carriers will be on the platform. But, Verizon is the owner of the DAS and overall solution and we're committed to making sure that Verizon customers have the best experience across the board," said Kornblatt.
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As construction is still underway, Verizon and the Bills haven't shared which equipment vendors they're working with on the network deployment or how many 5G radios and antennas will be installed.
Kornblatt said the deployment will include 10x more C-band nodes than the current stadium. Verizon also recently installed 20 new wireless towers in the area surrounding the new stadium.
The private 5G network
Verizon's private 5G network in the stadium will be used to segment traffic and provide connectivity for coach-to-coach communications, point-of-sale (POS) systems and ticketing. Verizon started itscoach-to-coach communications system for NFL coaches in 2023 to improve coaches' ability to achieve clearer communication over their headsets, for example.
"The private wireless network allows us to dedicate applications to a quality-of-service type fashion, to allow those applications to always have network priority," said Kornblatt. Prioritizing ticketing is key to ensuring fans can quickly enter the stadium, he said. Plus, speeding up the process by which fans move through the concessions area to return to the game is another important use case for the private network.
"Having the network set up separately allows those transactions to happen quickly over low latency and higher speeds that the private wireless piece brings," he added.
Verizon's NFL stadium networks
Verizon has a number of other NFL stadium 5G installations. Ahead of Super Bowl LIX, Light Reading toured Verizon's network infrastructure at theCaesars Superdome in New Orleans – that stadium seats over 70,000 for football games. While AT&T is the neutral host provider for the Superdome, Verizon has installed 509 5G UltraWideband and 155 C-band radios, plus 42 MatSing ball antennas. Verizon said it doubled its installation of MatSing antennas at the Superdome, when compared to its install at Super Bowl LVIII atAllegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Verizon's Superdome network also included 4G LTE, 5G, mmWave and C-band spectrum. The service provider deployed Samsung antennas throughout the Superdome, marking the first Super Bowl where Samsung is the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). For Allegiant Stadium, Verizon usedEricsson antennas as the vendor is their local OEM for that region.