Buffalo Bills Tickets

The Bills in brief: an AFL original in a new building

The Buffalo Bills play their home games at the new Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, a 60,108-seat stadium that opened in 2026 directly across Abbott Road from the stadium the team used from 1973 through 2025. The NFL regular season runs from September into early January, and every Bills home game is played at the new building.

The franchise was founded on October 28, 1959, as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL, the rival league that merged with the NFL in 1970). Buffalo won back-to-back AFL championships in 1964 and 1965. In the early 1990s the Bills reached four consecutive Super Bowls, after the 1990 through 1993 seasons, and lost all four, a run that still defines the franchise's identity: deep loyalty, long memory and no shortage of hope.

The Bills compete in the AFC East with the Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots and New York Jets, the three division rivals that visit Orchard Park every season. Ralph Wilson founded the team and owned it until 2014, when Terry and Kim Pegula bought it. The fan base calls itself Bills Mafia, a name that covers both the famously rowdy tailgate scene and a well-documented habit of charitable giving.

Inside the new Highmark Stadium

The new stadium held its ribbon cutting on June 23, 2026, about three years after groundbreaking on June 5, 2023. The first event was the team's Blue and Red training-camp scrimmage in August, and the schedule set the first regular-season game for Thursday, September 17, 2026, against the Detroit Lions in prime time. The State of New York owns the building, Populous designed it, and the reported cost is roughly 2.1 to 2.2 billion dollars depending on the source.

The design choices matter to anyone buying a seat:

• A partial canopy. A roof ring covers roughly 64 to 65 percent of the seating bowl, while the field stays open to the sky. The team kept the snow on purpose; the canopy keeps much of it off the fans.
• A steeper bowl. The seating rises at about 34 degrees, so the upper tier sits closer to the field than the old stadium's long, shallow slope allowed.
• Winter engineering. The building has an automated snow-melt system, heated natural grass and radiant heat in the concourses, plus partial heated seating.
• Capacity. The listed capacity is 60,108, smaller than the old stadium, with standing-room areas that can push attendance toward about 63,000.

The old stadium across the street, known over the years as Rich Stadium, Ralph Wilson Stadium and Highmark Stadium, is slated for demolition now that the new building is open.

Choosing seats at the new stadium

The seating chart is simpler than most NFL stadiums. The team's stadium guide lists two main seating levels:

• Main Concourse (sections 101 to 155): the lower bowl ringing the field, with premium clubs mixed in along the sidelines.
• Upper Concourse (sections 301 to 349): the steep upper tier, most of it under the canopy.
• Clubs and suites: the 716 Club, the Field Club, the Charge Bar and the suite levels, reached through dedicated entries.
• North end standing deck: a standing-room platform behind the north end zone, only about 12.5 feet above the playing surface.

How to pick

For watching football, the sideline sections between the 20-yard lines in the middle and upper rows of the 100 level give the best read of the field. Because the upper tier is so steep, its first rows at midfield are a strong value: you see plays develop, and you are more likely to be under cover. Low end zone rows are close to the action at one end and a poor view of everything else.

Two cautions for this first season. First, an early independent review of the stadium flagged a notable number of obstructed-view seats, so check any specific row with the team's Virtual Venue seat viewer or 3D map before buying. Second, crowd-sourced seat photos, sun-and-shade maps and bench-side guides take a season or two to accumulate for a new building; if a listing makes a claim about shade or bench location, verify it against the team's own map.

Dressing for the seat

Seats under the canopy stay drier, not warmer. The field is open, Lake Erie weather is real, and a December game in the uncovered rows can mean wind, snow and wet seats. Plan layers for any game after Halloween.

Which Bills games are hardest to get

The NFL plays a 17-game regular season over 18 weeks, so the Bills host either eight or nine regular-season games a year, plus preseason games in August and any home playoff games in January. Demand follows a few predictable patterns:

• Division games. Miami, New England and New York each visit once a year. These rivalry games carry the most history and usually the strongest demand of the regular season.
• Prime-time games. Thursday, Sunday and Monday night games draw a national audience and a louder, later tailgate. The stadium's first regular-season game was itself a Thursday night broadcast.
• Late-season weather games. December and January games in Orchard Park carry their own appeal for fans who want the snow-game experience, and they matter most in the standings.
• Playoff games. Home playoff tickets go on sale on short notice and move fast.

Supply is tighter than the stadium size suggests. The new building has fewer seats than the old one, and the team says fans committed 263 million dollars through personal seat licenses (PSLs, one-time payments that grant the right to buy season tickets), which means a large share of the bowl belongs to season-ticket holders. Resale listings come mostly from those holders, so prices tend to climb as kickoff approaches for marquee opponents and soften for early-season games against less popular visitors. Every order through this marketplace is backed by a 100% guarantee.

For road games, the division trips are the easiest to plan: Miami Gardens, Foxborough and the Meadowlands each sit within a short flight or drive of a major airport.

Getting to Orchard Park and the tailgate rules

The stadium sits at 10 Bills Plaza in Orchard Park, next to the Erie Community College South Campus and about nine miles from downtown Buffalo. As of the 2026 season, the official stadium guide sets these rules; check the team's current policy before you go.

• Parking: all parking passes must be bought in advance, and each pass is valid only in its named lot. Lots open four hours before kickoff and close two hours after the game.
• Tailgating: each space includes a 9-by-10-foot tailgating area. Propane or natural gas grills, raised charcoal grills, tents and small speakers are allowed; stakes, glass bottles, megaphones and drones are not. Tailgating must end at kickoff.
• Bus and rideshare: the NFTA Game Day Express runs buses from points around Western New York to a transit center on Abbott Road, and the rideshare zone is at the east end of the ECC South Campus.
• Gates: security gates open three hours before kickoff and ticket entries open two hours before. Once your ticket is scanned, you cannot leave and re-enter the stadium.
• Bags: a clear-bag policy applies (clear bags up to 12 by 6 by 12 inches, a one-gallon clear freezer bag, or a small clutch about 4.5 by 6.5 inches). Seat cushions up to 15 by 15 inches are allowed if they have no arms, zippers, pockets or metal backs.
• Tickets and payment: tickets are mobile only, and screenshots or printed PDFs are not valid. Concessions are cashless, with reverse ATMs that convert cash to a card.

Details are posted in the team's Highmark Stadium A to Z guide.

From War Memorial to The Comeback

The Bills played their first 13 seasons at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo before moving to Orchard Park in 1973. Their franchise history is full of moments fans still talk about:

• The AFL titles (1964 and 1965): back-to-back championships with quarterback Jack Kemp and coach Lou Saban.
• The Comeback (1992 season): a playoff win after trailing 35 to 3.
• Four straight Super Bowls (1990 to 1993 seasons): the era of Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed and Bruce Smith, all now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
• The Music City Miracle (1999 season): the kickoff-return lateral in Tennessee that ended Buffalo's playoff run and still colors the rivalry with the Titans.
• The drought ends (2017): a playoff berth that closed a 17-year absence from the postseason.

The move into the new Highmark Stadium in 2026 opens the next chapter, in a building designed to keep the outdoor, cold-weather character that has always been part of a Bills ticket.

Sources

• Wikipedia – Buffalo Bills
• Wikipedia – Highmark Stadium
• Sports Venue Business – Bills open doors to new Highmark Stadium
• TSN – Bills to play first regular-season game in new stadium in Week 2
• StadiumDB – Highmark Stadium
• Stadium Journey – Highmark Stadium (2026)
• Sports Illustrated – When will the new Bills stadium open
• Buffalo Bills – Highmark Stadium A to Z guide
• Buffalo Bills – Highmark Stadium parking
• Buffalo Bills – Highmark Stadium
• Wikipedia – NFL regular season