I am Noah, a junior at Clarence High School, located outside Buffalo, New York. A little about me: I became interested in football freshman year. All my friends participated in fantasy football, where you draft players from all NFL teams. My dad is also a New York Jets fan (boo!), so I went to my first regular season game at Highmark on December 11, 2022, where the Bills beat the Jets in style, 20-12. I remember the game being icy, with freezing rain falling. I was sitting at the edge of the 200s section (heated) and was getting soaked. I would go to the opening game versus the Raiders in much better weather the following year. When I heard of plans for a new stadium, I thought it would have a dome. It turns out the Bills decided to save money and went for a canopy, which doesn’t have complete coverage for fans. While the weather can give the Bills players an advantage, being used to the weather sets up an unpleasant experience for fans. If you ever find yourself in the 300s (top section), it can be extremely windy on top of the cold weather and snow. The new Highmark Stadium canopy design would still be chilly without a complete covering and wouldn’t reduce as much snow as it would blow in. Another issue is parking. If you want to park in a stadium lot, expect to pay upwards of $100. If not, you can find parking for sale by people who use their front yards as parking lots. This makes driving difficult as there are few sidewalks, so many weave through traffic. When there is a home game, local roads are closed down, making it difficult to get to different parking or even daily driving if you are a resident in Orchard Park. This has also disrupted the home market, creating homes that would otherwise be moderately priced ($200,000-300,000) go for upwards of $1,000,000. The Buffalo Bills should have relocated to a new stadium in the city, with more public infrastructure and convenient transportation (metro).

Image Source: https://www.coliseum-online.com/skin-design-of-bills-new-home-renderings/