PALM BEACH, Fla. – Buffalo Bills Chief Operating Officer Pete Guelli has a message for anybody who thinks construction of the new Highmark Stadium is behind schedule.
“The stadium is going to open on time,” Guelli said during an interview with The Buffalo News at the NFL’s annual meeting.
Highmark Stadium Construction (copy)
The new Highmark Stadium, future home of the Buffalo Bills is scheduled to open in the summer of 2026. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
The $2.2 billion stadium in Orchard Park, across the street from the current stadium, is now 50% complete, and the intent is to have the facility ready to host events in June or July 2026. The workforce is currently 1,200, and will increase to 1,400.
“Whatever it takes to get the stadium done on time, we’ll do,” Guelli said. “It’s amazing how they worked through a tough winter. They got through it, and they’ve kept us on pace.”
The league is holding its meeting at The Breakers resort for the first time since March 2022, when the Bills signed their stadium agreement with the state of New York and Erie County. The initial price was $1.4 billion, with the state contributing $600 million, and the county $250 million. Since then, the price has risen to $2.2 billion, and Bills owner Terry Pegula is responsible for every dollar above the original amount.
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Asked if the price will go up again before opening, Guelli said: “I hope not, but you can’t guarantee it. Ever since I came in (last spring), the numbers have been in that ballpark. We know the deal we’ve signed up for, and Terry could not be more committed to it, and our goal is to make sure the stadium turns out exactly how we planned it. It needs to be a world-class, state-of-the-art facility that can house the Bills long-term.”
On Friday, the Bills will hold a “topping off” ceremony to commemorate the final piece of steel being put into place.
“It’s a pivotal moment,” Guelli said. “There’s the groundbreaking, the topping off and the grand opening, and (topping off is) the middle step, but we’re going to celebrate it with everybody who had a part of it. It’s going to be a very celebratory moment.”
Another key moment for the Bills was Monday morning when NFL owners agreed to a $650 million debt waiver to assist the Bills in financing the stadium. The league has a system in place to provide a loan at preferred terms that can be paid back in a negotiated period of time to help build new stadiums that include private money.
“This has been in the works since I came back (to the Bills last year), and it likely pre-dated me,” Guelli said. “We knew we were going to approach the league about the debt waiver, and we’re thrilled the (NFL) finance committee and stadium committee voted to grant it.”
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Guelli addressed many Bills topics during his interview with The News:
Celebrating the old stadium
The Bills are formulating plans to recognize the final year of the current stadium, their home since 1973.
“We’re really looking forward to celebrating all of the history at old Highmark, and we’re going through all those moments trying to determine what are the best ways to commemorate them,” Guelli said.
The Bills may involve season-ticket holders by creating special gifts, and they are looking at what uniforms to wear against which opponents (the schedule is normally released in May). The team is also developing a logo to celebrate the season.
How about a return of the red helmets for at least one game?
“Too early to tell,” Guelli said.
The Bills’ nine-game home schedule includes the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, plus the Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals.
Opening new stadium
The Bills would like to host three or four events before the team’s first preseason game in August 2026.
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“Ideally, in a perfect world – events of different scales,” Guelli said. “The stadium needs to be ready (for the Bills), and it needs to be tested. Right now, we’re trying to determine what the right event is to open with. We would like to do something dramatic and larger-scale, because we know we’ll have 60,000 fans in there, at some point, and we want to make sure everything from a football perspective works the way we anticipate it working.”
Bills chief commercial officer Jason Hartland and current Sabres director of live events Rob Crean will be the point people for new stadium bookings.
Guelli said the Bills will “absolutely” have an open house for season-ticket holders, and will “likely” have another event for the public to tour the stadium.
The Bills have said they want to encourage commercial development around the new stadium.
“The first thing to prove to (businesses) is this won’t be a 10-event venue (per year), and it won’t be,” Guelli said. “Whether they’re massive events or smaller events for season-ticket holders or business meetings, there will be activity in that building year-round.”
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The personal seat licenses for the new stadium’s upper level went on sale March 20. Guelli said The Bills Stadium Experience in Williamsville is open daily, and “we’re having trouble keeping up with the number of appointments.”
“Very happy (with the process),” Guelli said. “We’re constantly looking at the pacing, and we’re right on track with where we want to be.”
Guelli said the lower bowl is 70% sold, and the goal remains to have every season-ticket account holder through the experience center by September. The wait list is at 7,000 accounts and 20,000 seats.
Reach Ryan at rohalloran@buffnews.com or 716-849-6133. Follow on Twitter at @ryanohalloran.
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