Bills executives pushed back on the negative narratives surrounding the new $2.2 billion Highmark Stadium after fans voiced their complaints on social media about everything from obstructed-view seats to the size of the scoreboard at the new Western New York venue.
While headlines painted a rather disappointing picture about the Bills’ new home, executives told reporters on a conference call on Monday that they have only heard from a small number of season-ticket holders who had complaints about their seats.
Bills COO Pete Guelli said the team only “heard from less than 1 percent” of PSL holders “about anything sight line related,” according to The Athletic, and that they were “confident” that fans were getting the seats they were anticipating from what was represented by the virtual venue.
“Any building you would walk into, there would be some obstructed seating,” Guelli said in defense of the team. “There are seats where we could create a different design, put in a blank area, or they give you the option to put in a seat that might be obstructed for football, but can be used for any other event like a concert. There’s always partial-view or limited-view seats, and we think those were pretty clearly depicted in our virtual venue.”
The team’s front office also expressed the belief that some of the photos that spread like wildfire online were misleading or were showing seats that wouldn’t be sold for any NFL games.
Images from an open practice held at Highmark Stadium showed seats that blocked part of the view of the field in different parts of the stadium, and drew anger from Bills fans and shock from football fans.
The open practice drew more than 50,000 fans to the new stadium.
Bills vice president of stadium development John Polka told reporters on Monday that seats with “truly obstructed views” were not sold as a PSL or sold for any NFL games.
The Bills play their first regular season game in their new stadium on Sept. 17 against the Lions, but will host the Panthers on Saturday for a preseason game at Highmark Stadium.
