It was all by design, Bills Mafia.
After fans were quick to slam the franchise for blocked views and sightlines during a training camp practice inside the new $2.2 billion Highmark Stadium on Saturday, the project’s architect told Buffalo News that was not a design flaw nor an oversight.
The stadium was built by architectural design firm Populous, which sought out, alongside the Bills, to build a more vertical stadium with stacked tiers in a seating bowl to enable fans to be as close to the action as possible.
It’s also said to make for a louder atmosphere.
With that came sightline sacrifices, including staircases in front of the seats in the 300 and 400 levels.
“You will find some level of obstruction in every stadium in the world,” Jonathan Mallie, global director and managing director of Populous’ Americas practice, told the outlet.
“The goal was to bring everybody closer to the field and create an upper deck with an incredible proximity and presence within the bowl to help create a next level experience for Bills Mafia,” he added.
The Bills eventually spoke out to their fans, saying they were addressing “internal and external feedback” and would “refine” any details ahead of the home opener on Thursday, Sept. 17.
Pete Guelli, president of business operations of the Bills, added to Buffalo News that fans were made known of any obstructions before they bought their seats. Additionally, fans who visited the New Stadium Experience Center should have been able to see the view of their seats virtually before purchasing.
He added fans were encourged to pay a visit before purchasing a personal seat license.
The team only “heard from less than 1%” of season ticket holders about sightlines.
“Anything else for sale that has a sightline-related issue, we thought was clearly indicated through the virtual experience and was very reflective of where people ended up,” Guelli said. “However, if anyone felt differently, we’re having those conversations, and we want to make certain at the end of the day that they’re satisfied with their seat.”
The Bills totaled more than $260 million in personal seat license sales with price tags ranging from $750 to $2,500.
Seats that are completely obstructed, most of which are located on the 400 level in the first several rows, will not be for sale for football games.
“How is this f–ing possible,” one X user wrote with a picture of his seat in the middle of the field.
“Whoever designed the new Bills stadium should wasn’t very keen to detail,” another fan posted with accompanying pictures showing the field not being fully visible. “Imagine paying tens of thousands on PSLs and season tickets and walk into a view like this.”
For fans who don’t like their seats or feel mislead by the sales process, some arrangements could be possible, Guelli added. Several seats with sightline issues were not available for purchase until after the sale to current season ticket holders concluded from the old stadium, but most of them were taken quickly.
Yankee Stadium, which opened in 2009, was also a Populous project that some fans were upset with after transitioning from a historic stadium.
Mallie said more and more stadiums are focusing on bringing the upper decks as close as possible to the field, which also brings more code requirements than old projects ever crossed decades ago.
Highmark Stadium was also designed with the idea to create more room for movement in larger concourses, with the concessions on the opposite side away from the seating bowl.
“There’s always what fans are used to versus what it can be today,” Mallie said. “We have to design to code and make sure to be safe while achieving the overall goals.”
