The Buffalo Bills say the pace of personal seat license sales has picked up dramatically with the lower price points in the first level and then more recently, in the upper level.
But will this surge in sales be enough to get every seat sold and every PSL under contract before the new $2.2 billion stadium opens for the 2026 season?
New Stadium Construction (copy)
The north end seating is visible from the field at the site of the new Buffalo Bills stadium in Orchard Park. As of late May, the team has sold more than 25,000 personal seat licenses. Joshua Bessex, Buffalo News
That is likely to happen by early next year if the pace of sales continues as it has for the past several months. At that rate, the Bills may be able to sell around 9,000 PSLs during the latest quarter, from April through June.
As of late May, the team has sold more than 25,000 PSLs. That’s through over 14 months of sales, which began in March 2024, with another approximately 14 months to go until the Bills likely will play their first preseason game in the new stadium in August of next year.
People are also reading…
With nearly 55,000 PSLs to sell in the over-60,000-seat stadium, there’s still a lot of work to be done, but the increasing pace of sales since the new year has put the Bills in position to accomplish their goal of selling every seat license with some time to spare.
“We’re on pace to sell out the building,” Pete Guelli, the team’s chief operating officer and executive vice president, told The News last month.
Guelli said Tuesday it is still too early to determine when exactly that may happen.
“We are very pleased with the current pace,” he said in a statement. “It is difficult to determine an exact sellout date, but the pace has accelerated dramatically with the upper level on-sale. Our goal is still to give every (current) season ticket member an opportunity to be a part of the new stadium before we move to fans on the wait list.”
The Bills sold 7,890 PSLs from Jan. 1 to March 31, according to a report submitted by the team to the state. They have been selling PSLs for $2,500 or less for more than three months, and the lowest price point is currently at $1,500.
They have sold another approximately 6,000 PSLs from the beginning of April to late-May, when the Bills reported the latest numbers to The News, putting them on pace to surpass the sales numbers of the prior three months.
If that number jumps to around 9,000 PSL sales this quarter and remains consistent throughout the following quarters, the Bills could sell all their PSLs by approximately March.
Dan Higgins: A PSL is more personal than I bargained for
"I bought two personal seat licenses for the new Bills stadium. The whole process was cynical, and effective," Higgins writes.
The team’s goal is to have every current season ticket holder visit the Bills New Stadium Experience Center in Amherst by the start of the Bills’ season Sept. 7 against the Baltimore Ravens. There are almost 18,000 season ticket account holders, representing around 65,000 seats in the nearly 72,000-seat Highmark Stadium.
The Stadium Experience Center, where representatives of Bills sales consultant Legends make their pitch to season ticket holders, remains open seven days a week and is averaging 50 appointments per day.
After that, any season tickets remaining will begin to be offered to fans who have signed up for the wait list. Right now, thousands of accounts are on the list, all of which have required a deposit, representing the potential for around 19,000 seats.
The Bills say that 80% of season ticket holders who visit the Stadium Experience Center sign up for PSLs.
PSL sales picked up from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31 with nearly 5,200 sold during the period. After sales had dropped by 36% during the second quarter of reporting (July to September), they increased by 126% in the next quarter. The team had said that drop had much to do with the wind-down of club inventory leading into the sale of reserved seating, which makes up the majority of the stadium.
New Stadium Construction
Plastic wraps the first seats installed at the new Buffalo Bills stadium on May 12. Team officials say the pace of personal seat license sales has picked up dramatically with the lower price points. Joshua Bessex photos, Buffalo News
The first PSL of less than $8,000 wasn’t sold until Oct. 31. That’s when the team started selling less expensive seats around the lower bowl, which got as low as $2,500 in the end zone seating area. The team then started selling seats that carry PSL prices of $5,000, beginning Dec. 19. Those $2,500 PSLs in the lower bowl began being sold Feb. 19.
Seats in the upper bowl started being sold in late March, with price points at $5,500 for a PSL in the 300s and $2,500 in the 400s. Seats are currently being sold at $1,500 and $2,000 per PSL closer to the corners in the upper level.
During the first six-plus months of PSL sales, the team sold nearly 6,000 as it focused on selling the inventory of club seats and some of the highest priced lower-level seats. There are 6,162 club seats in the stadium, and they are sold out. The team also has sold out its suite inventory of 1,755 seats.
The Bills are required to set aside 3,725 seats, called “mandatory holds,” for visiting teams, the NFL and Bills players’ families and staff, leaving the remaining capacity of 54,628 seats that require a PSL.
The team began the process of selling PSLs in the club sections, where they were priced between $8,000 and $50,000. Lower-level seats are going from $2,500 to $10,000 per PSL, and upper-level seats are priced between $1,500 and $5,500 per PSL. Prices for upper-level seat PSLs may drop to as low as around $1,000 in the end zone areas.
Fans are being called and emailed to make an appointment at the Stadium 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.
0 Comments
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter.