The Buffalo Bills are ready to sell tickets in the upper level of their new stadium.
About a year into the sale of seats at the $2.2 billion stadium under construction, the team is starting to bring in season ticket holders from general admission upper-level seating.
New Stadium Construction
The concrete base of the 300-level seating at the site of the new Bills Stadium on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. Joshua Bessex/Buffalo News
The Bills confirmed that the first of their current 300-level season ticket holders have been invited this week to the Stadium Experience Center in Williamsville, where they will find out the price of personal seat licenses and tickets for their comparable seats.
Led by Legends, which is handling PSL and new stadium ticket sales, the team started in March 2024 with selling club seats and suites, shifted their attention around October to lower-level seating and on Thursday started the process of selling seats in upper-level sections.
Fans are saying the team is starting in the upper level at a PSL price point of $5,500 for seats in what is a mostly smaller and more limited 300 level, and $2,500 for seats in the more vast 400 level. Those prices should go down as the Bills sell sections farther away from the 50-yard line and closer to and in the end zone.
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The upper level is where the Bills are eventually expected to sell the least-expensive PSL in the new stadium, which will likely be around $1,000.
New Stadium Construction
A view from the 300-level northwest-side seating at the site of the new Bills Stadium as seen in October. Joshua Bessex, Buffalo News
The Bills say they are still on track to get every current season ticket account holder through the Experience Center before the start of the NFL season in September. Then, they will focus on the thousands of fans on the waiting list, offering them the seats that remain.
“The new Highmark Stadium sales process has been deliberate to ensure every season ticket member can secure comparable or better seats than they have in the current stadium,” Pete Guelli, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Bills, said in a statement. “With upper-level reserved seating now on sale, we continue to be impressed and grateful for the response.”
Bills Stadium Experience (copy) (copy)
The Stadium Experience in Williamsville was built to host Buffalo Bills season ticket holders to start the process of buying a personal seat license for the new Highmark Stadium. Joshua Bessex, Buffalo News
Pace of Bills PSL sales picks up as focus shifts from priciest seats
The latest PSL sales report submitted by the Bills to the state indicates the team had its largest number of sales in a quarter so far for the $2.1 billion stadium under construction.
The team is starting in the upper level, with seats in the sections of the 300 and 400 levels closest to the 50-yard-line, and will work its way around each side of the bowl, ending in the end zone areas. The 300-level seats are the lowest in the upper deck, with the 400-level seats above them.
Fans are being called and emailed to make an appointment at the Experience Center by their section, and then seniority within that section. They are offered the most comparable seats to where they currently sit. They may also be offered options to move down to the lower level if they would prefer to take advantage of the team’s remaining inventory in those sections.
The first appointments for season ticket holders in the upper level took place Thursday.
New Stadium Construction
A view of the field from the 300-level concourse of the new Bills Stadium on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. Joshua Bessex/Buffalo News
The new stadium, slated to be open before the start of the 2026 season, will offer upper-level seats in both the 300 and 400 levels. But most of the 300 sections between the end zone corners and 50-yard line have limited rows of seating to offer. The current Highmark Stadium’s upper deck goes up to only the 300 level.
The average appointment takes a little over one hour and 20 minutes, but they may get faster as inventory continues to shrink, the team has said. The center can handle about 50 appointments per day.
If the upper level is sold as the lower level and club seats have been, the Bills will offer seats with the most expensive PSL first in sections closest to the 50-yard line. Prices for a PSL, now a required purchase for all season ticket holders just to buy tickets, will go down as the team gets to sections closer to the 25-yard line, and then corner seats and in the end zone.
In the lower level, PSLs started at $8,000, and got to as low as $2,500 in the end zone. Club seats came with a PSL price tag of between $8,000 to $50,000. But these seats will make up only a small portion of the more-than-60,000-capacity stadium. The Bills have said they sold out their club seat inventory.
New Stadium Construction
Construction workers walk along the 300-level concourse at the site of the new Bills Stadium on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (Joshua Bessex/Buffalo News) Joshua Bessex/Buffalo News
The first PSL of less than $8,000 wasn’t sold until Oct. 31. That’s when the team started selling less pricey seats in the lower bowl that carried PSL prices of $6,000. The team then started selling seats that carry PSL prices of $5,000, beginning Dec. 19, according to a quarterly report that the team sends to the state.
Since then, fans have reported that PSLs have gotten to $4,000 and $3,500 for lower-level corner seating, before falling to $2,500 for seats in the lower-level end zone.
As for ticket pricing, it has gone up pretty consistently by around 75% to 100% for most fans’ comparable seats.
There are almost 18,000 season ticket account holders. There is also a waiting list that the Bills have established with more than 5,000 accounts representing the potential for 15,000 season tickets. All have put down deposits for a chance at seats in the new stadium.
New Stadium Construction
The concrete base of the 300-level seating at the site of the new Bills Stadium on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (Joshua Bessex/Buffalo News) Joshua Bessex/Buffalo News
According to the state, the Bills are forecasting the sale of more than 58,300 PSLs. There will be a little more than 60,000 seats in the stadium, not including about 1,750 suite and loge seats.
As of Dec. 31, the Bills have sold 11,093 PSLs, and more than half of those sales were made from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31. PSL sales have totaled $129 million for the Bills through Dec. 31, including $36 million during the latest quarter.
The pace of sales for January through March is projected to pick up even further, with the team now focused on selling general admission seats, at lower PSL prices than the most premium seats in the stadium.
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