Planning an event or party? You might be able to hold it at the new Bills stadium
While the $2.1 billion new Highmark Stadium is designed for football, there is also a plan to use spaces inside for gatherings of all types.
Want to have a corporate event, holiday or birthday party or even a wedding where the Buffalo Bills play their home games?
It’s going to be possible at the team’s more than $2 billion stadium in Orchard Park.
While the $2.1 billion stadium is designed for football, there is also a plan to use spaces inside for gatherings of all types.
The stadium will feature around 15 spaces to host meetings, events or celebrations, including at the Field Club level, with access to the field, and in the suites area, where the team can host up to 700 people for big celebrations, conferences and corporate meetings.
There are also several other areas inside the stadium without a predetermined use that potentially could be used for other ideas, including an in-stadium restaurant or a sports museum.
A view of the field club entrance as construction continued last month at the new Highmark Stadium.
Harry Scull/Buffalo News
With an open-air stadium that can host only so many outdoor athletic competitions, the inside gatherings will be a key part of the Bills fulfilling a goal to bring hundreds of events to the building each year.
But you might have to wait a while. As the Bills plan to finish the stadium in July 2026 so it will be set for next season and then put on some finishing touches throughout next year, they believe things will start to get busy for renting out space by 2027.
“From the very beginning, we were charged with not only creating spaces and making them unique for game day but also figuring out how we can flip them for events,” said Frank Cravotta, senior vice president of design for the Bills. “There’s a lot that goes into that, and I think they’ll step into renting these out as we get up and running.”
The team’s plan has always been to find more everyday uses at the stadium that aren’t strictly sporting events or dependent on development in the surrounding area.
Cravotta said the team has visited Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., where there is an event on an almost daily basis. While Green Bay is a similarly sized small market, the Packers have an advantage with a broader attraction, Titletown, next door.
That is where developers stepped up, in coordination with the Packers, to build other projects next to Lambeau Field. Titletown now features hotels, retail, restaurants and bars, apartments and townhomes and a technology startup incubator, as well as fields, parks and a sledding hill.
The Bills have said they would like to activate the stadium for an array of events, potentially more than 100 times a year. And any future ancillary development around the stadium – which, for the most part, has not occurred in the five decades the Bills have been in Orchard Park – would likely be dependent on that.
“I think when people see these spaces, they’ll see the potential for an upscale wedding, something more fun with a DJ, Christmas parties, New Year’s events, you name it,” Cravotta said.
One of the biggest draws for fans will be to host an event in the Field Club area, which provides unrivaled access to the field, an outside patio behind the Bills sideline, the players tunnel outside the team’s locker rooms and lounge area.
On game days, the access will be like nothing fans have seen before, but it is also an ideal space for all sorts of events and parties, even weddings.
The suite area is where there is likely to be bigger events and upscale weddings, with availability for up to 700 guests.
The Bills announced this week the creation in that suite space of the M&T Bank Lounge, which will be accessible for private rental by the community. M&T Bank has a longstanding relationship with the team that will extend into a founding partnership at the new stadium.
“You can go get married on the field, and then party here,” Cravotta said.
A rendering of what the inside of the Field Club will look like at the new Highmark Stadium.
Contributed image
The Field Club, which is downstairs from the main level entrance, will features a huge main bar, quick-serve concessions, a pizza oven, a DJ stand, furniture, a lounge area and many TVs, with wood finishes and impeccable lighting. There will also likely be access to the Bills locker room for corporate events and some other parties.
There are escalators to bring fans and visitors up and down from the ground-floor level, outside the stadium’s main entrance off Family Circle. Right now, the area is significantly more complete than other spaces around the stadium as the final year of construction ramps up.
On game days, the club will have visibility into the players tunnel, where the Bills will come out for pregame warmups, before and after halftime and postgame. During the game, fans can walk out to the outdoor patio, and they will be on the field area, right behind the Bills sideline.
“It’s a really cool space,” Cravotta said. “The experience is going to be like going into the coolest sports bar or nightclub.”
There also are at least three large shelf spaces in the stadium that are not programmed for anything yet, which was done intentionally, so when there’s a need for more space, it is available, said John Polka, vice president of stadium development for the Bills.
Construction workers eat lunch in an overflow room at the new Highmark Stadium.
Harry Scull/Buffalo News
Gilbane Turner, the stadium's general contractor, has used the biggest of the shelf spaces, which is in the event level at the east side of the stadium, as a temperature-controlled break room for workers. There’s a large lunchroom space, restrooms and even a barbershop where workers can get a free haircut.
That area may be one that sees a change in its use as things evolve in the business of the team and NFL and the overall sports landscape. A restaurant or sports museum could be built, or possibly conference rooms and office space. The Bills built a separate technology building, so it is likely these spaces will not have to be overhauled with equipment and wiring as technological upgrades are needed.
“To have a few areas to use as swing space throughout the building – and maybe it becomes something different every five years – we have the availability to flex up or flex down or do something unique when we have the opportunity,” Polka said.
As for other sporting events that may come to the new stadium, the Bills have talked about bringing major NCAA competitions − such as the lacrosse championships and outdoor games − featuring major regional Division I programs in a variety of sports. There’s also talk of professional soccer “friendlies,” and maybe even Savannah Bananas baseball games.
The team is building auxiliary locker rooms for teams from other sports, and the visitor locker room can be split into two or four separate areas for when high school and college teams play at the stadium.
The Bills also would like to bring the NFL draft to Orchard Park and surrounding areas in Western New York in 2028 or 2029.
Additionally, Terry Pegula, the owner of the Bills and Buffalo Sabres, would like to see a Winter Classic outdoor hockey game at new Highmark Stadium, potentially in 2028, which would be the 20th anniversary of the first one ever, played in Buffalo.