Bills Stadium Construction Reaches New Heights, See Views of Downtown Buffalo

ORCHARD PARK, NY — 2 On Your Side has gained the first television access to the upper concourse of the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium, where freshly poured concrete marks a milestone in construction.

Looking across Abbott Road, your feet are almost even with the top of Highmark Stadium.

“Very few people will be able to get up here until 2026,” said Frank Cravotta, senior vice president of New Stadium Design.

To its right, the first steel structure that will support the 300-level seats is being assembled, as are the precast concrete stairs leading to the lobby.

Cravotta gestures to show how additional steps will eventually take fans to the top row, adding that each level of the new stadium will offer fans a different experience.

“At Level 100, you’ll feel, you’ll hear, you’ll sense the players warming up, there’s more energy. Here, it’s just the sheer size of the structure, it’s more impressive,” Cravotta said.

An impressive spectacle that includes views of downtown Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Ontario and Lake Erie, designed to be a focal point of the upper concourse with a bar and party terrace for fans to enjoy.

“Until you get here for the first time, you know it but you don’t feel it… as you can see, it’s pretty cool,” Cravotta said.

The bridge is one of several spaces designed for the Bills Mafia to operate more independently from their headquarters.

According to John Polka, vice president of stadium development, the new stadium is designed to facilitate meetings. In fact, the lower and upper concourses will wrap around the entire stadium, unlike the design of Highmark Stadium.

“Let’s go have a drink and hang out a little bit,” in the winter, those are the areas where we also focused the radiant heat,” Polka said.

He explained how the concourses and the stadium itself will make it clear to visiting fans that they are in Buffalo Bills country.

“One of Terry’s edicts was, ‘Drop me anywhere in this stadium and I want to know I’m in Buffalo,'” Polka said.

Concessions and restrooms have been moved to the outside of the stadium. Instead of only having a glimpse of the field through a tunnel like at Highmark Stadium, the concourse will be open to the field.

“So you don’t have a barrier and it helps block the wind,” Cravotta added.

“I think when people come in, their proximity, whether they’re walking around the stadium or sitting in their seats, is what they really remember,” Polka said.

Prefabricated bleachers have already begun to be installed along the lower bowl, making the busy construction site feel more like a stadium than a skeleton. Polka said the seats will be installed in about a year.

As you descend onto the field and walk through the very tunnel that future Bills players will emerge from, the stadium rises around you, steeper and more intimidating by design, the two explained.

The stadium floor is made of rock that was crushed by construction crews and looks almost like a paved road. Polka said the field and playing surface will be made of two layers laid over the shale, which will add about 30 centimeters to the floor height.

With about 500 professionals on site daily, he said, fans will continue to see steel and precast concrete risers and stairs being installed until the start of football season, but when the canopy begins to go up this fall, much more work will begin to happen.

“Crew strength will continue to increase to about 1,200 people by next spring, so things will really ramp up over the spring and summer of next year,” Polka said.

It’s a job the two men, who are also Buffalo residents, and most of their design team, don’t take lightly. Looking out from the upper concourse, they understand that what they’re building is for the Bills fan base.

“You experience things for the first time and then, in many ways, the last time, because until the building is finished, it’s constantly changing,” Cravotta said.

“The days are so busy and the weeks are so short, and then you finally get here and you’re like, ‘Man, this is pretty cool,’” Polka said.

A new home built for and by members of Bills Mafia looks forward to the first family gathering in 2026.