Bills owner Terry Pegula helps open team’s new $2.1 billion stadium

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula got emotional and sniffled upon referencing the passion his wife Kim put into getting the team’s new stadium plans off the ground before falling ill.

Mary Wilson apologized for getting teary-eyed when reflecting on her late husband Ralph Wilson’s legacy as the Bills founder and Hall of Fame owner.

The past met the present during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, when the Bills opened a new chapter in their 66-year history by moving across the street into their newly built, $2.1 billion Highmark Stadium.

“To my family, I want to thank you for staying by me and standing tall for four difficult years in our family history,” Pegula said, referring to his wife still recovering from a debilitating cardiac arrest she experienced in June 2022. It happened months after she played a role in negotiating a 30-year lease agreement with New York State.

“Kim, I wish you could have finished this project with the same passion and hard work that you started with,” he added.

As for Wilson, she reflected back to 1990 and attending her first Bills game at the team’s old home — affectionally dubbed “The Ralph” after her husband.

“It was such a blessing in my life,” said Wilson said, who remains a Bills season-ticket holder 12 years after her husband’s death. “And I can’t wait to sit in my new seat right here at the home opener, Sept. 17, against the Lions, which was Ralph’s hometown.”

Bills scrimmage to open new stadium

The stadium’s first scheduled event will be the Bills annual “Blue and Red Scrimmage,” set for Aug. 8. The team will also break in its new digs with home preseason games against Carolina on Aug. 15 and Pittsburgh on Aug. 27.

The ceremony was held in front of the north entrance of the Bills’ gleaming new home, which took three years to construct in bringing the franchise into the modern age. The building is a towering structure that overshadows what’s left of the Bills former home that opened in 1973 and is now in the process of being demolished.

The new building is much unlike the utilitarian and crumbling old facility, which had dark, narrow concourses, metal benches for seats and offered little protection from the elements.

The new stadium has several palatial lounges with carpeted floors, and wide concourses featuring local artwork. A curved roof overhang covers about 60% of the seats, while also reducing the wind at field level.

The capacity has also been reduced, down from 73,000 to just over 60,000, allowing for a more compact and intimate environment with all seats having clean sightlines.

Design inspired by Tottenham Hotspur home

Kim Pegula played a role in the design, and inspired by a visit to the home stadium of England’s Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, which has hosted NFL games.

“I told the gentleman giving us the tour, ’I want you to take me to the three worst seats in the stadium,’” Terry Pegula recalled. “The first seat he took me to, I said, ‘Wow, I wouldn’t mind sitting here.’ So we tried to duplicate that, and I think we did a pretty good job.”

Another major change has the Bills switching from artificial turf to grass, with Kentucky bluegrass installed a year ago to allow time for it to mature. The field also features underground heating coils to prevent freezing.

State of the art lightning and sound systems have been installed. And a large outside plaza will feature three large stainless steel statues of bison, including a 27-foot, 23,000-pound bull designed to light up and emit smoke from its nostrils.

Pegulas pick up cost overruns

The project was initially projected to cost $1.4 billion, with New York State and Erie County contributing $850 million in public money. The rest, including $700 million in overruns, is being covered by the Pegulas.

The owners offset the cost by raising $263 million in one-time seat-licensing sales, while also benefiting from an NFL loan program.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul grew up a Bills fan in nearby Hamburg, and opened her speech with a chant of “Let’s go, Buffalo.”

“As a daughter of Buffalo, a lifelong fan, I could not be prouder,” Hochul said. “This is a stadium where memories will be made, history will be shaped and championships will be won.”

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