Bills fans have been blindsided by their own team.
Fans paid thousands of dollars to renew their season tickets with PSLs for this upcoming season at the brand-new Highmark Stadium, with the promise of the glitz that comes with it.
The problem is some fans are dealing with obstructions blocking views of the full field.
Fans have been irritated by stair railings and glass attached to them, which appear to be at least three feet tall, according to first-hand accounts by fans who spoke to The Post and were at Saturday’s practice at Highmark Stadium, which drew over 50,000 fans.
One fan, Melissa Wroblewski, said she was “assured” that her new season tickets would be free of obstruction, though railings are in her way.
Wroblewski shows in pictures on X that she was shown a model of what the seats would look like that are completely different than what she was actually given.
“We asked if there was going to be an obstruction multiple times because it was a concern,” Wroblewski said. “We were told that the image was just a rendering and there would be no obstruction.”
Front-row seats even in the upper sections had Personal Seat License fees starting in the low four figures. Others were forced to give up their old seats entirely thanks to rising costs that are 500 percent higher than before when they played at their old stadium.
“My previous season tickets in the last stadium were in a lower section and were more expensive, and they first tried to sell me my old seats, which would have cost $5,000 per seat for the PSL and $2,500 per seat for the season,” one fan, Kevin Kruger, told The Post. “So my starting cost to be a season ticket holder in my old seats would be $15,000.”
Another fan, who used to be in the lower bowl 100s level, was priced out of his premium seats thanks to the pricey PSLs.
“In the old stadium, I was paying less than $2,500 for those seats with no PSL,” the Bills fan said. “They were trying to show me what comparable seats would be to what I had in the old stadium, and that would have been $15,000 to get season tickets for the first year for two seats… I was like – ‘Um, can’t afford that.’
“It was a whole sales routine. So we got to see a whole bunch about the stadium and all of these great benefits to the new stadium, and then they sit you down at the end, and they tell you the cost of everything. They weren’t high-pressure about it, but we asked about sections higher up, and they said, ‘We’re not authorized to sell those yet.’ A couple of months later, they called me up and said, ‘Let’s talk again.’”
Kruger, a season-ticket holder since 2019, revealed it took a while to get into the stadium, and the familiar issues with traffic persisted as they did in the nearby old stadium.
Another fan, who goes by Sean, said he was shown a model of seats with obstructed views and appreciated that these were an option and wound up selecting seats in section 420 row 2.
“I can say during my ticket process, I was shown virtual seats that showed the stairs/railing in the view. I said, ‘Eh, I don’t want to deal with the possibility of my view being blocked by people standing in the aisle or going up and down,’” Sean told The Post.
Fans buying single game tickets have also seen the get-in price skyrocket. On Ticketmaster and Seat Geek the get-in price is over $600 for the season opener against the Lions.
For now, they’ll have to hope that Josh Allen and the Bills will give them plenty of reason to stand up throughout the game, as obstructed views while seated will give some fans similar frustrated feelings.
The Buffalo Bills responded to the outcry from fans with this statement to The Post.
“Thank you to Bills Mafia for setting a new attendance record with more than 50,000 fans at the Return of the Blue & Red,” the Bills said in a statement. “Saturday’s practice was a great opportunity to test the new stadium. We are currently addressing internal and external feedback regarding the facility’s operation following the first event. We’ll utilize the next six weeks to refine any details as we prepare for the home opener on Thursday, September 17.”
