Highmark Stadium cost roughly $2.1 billion to build, with taxpayers covering $850 million of it, and the first real crowds through the doors this preseason didn't take long to find problems. Photos of seats blocked by railings, overhangs and staircases spread fast online, with fans saying they were told during the sales process that renderings were just estimates and there would be no obstructions.
CaptainCons was one of the fans pushing back on anyone trying to wave the complaints away as overblown or misidentified.
to the people saying this isn't a seat ok got it but there were multiple other pics posted that ARE seats int he stadium with obstructed views again I posit, I am flabbergasted that this can happen in modern stadiums.
That wasn't a one-off gripe either. Cons followed up hours later with a broader take on the stadium's video boards, and this time it wasn't really a complaint at all — more of an admission that modern stadium design has warped how fans watch games.
one aspect of new stadiums that I sneaky don't love is jumbotron size so I like that it's smaller you find yourself watching the jumbotron more than the players on the field. It's weird like our brains are trained now to watch the TV. All the time I have to force myself to watch the players, not the screen
Barstool's Wake Up Barstool crew hit the same note from the other direction, ripping Highmark's video boards for being undersized compared to what fans are used to at big venues. Blutman's line about the screens being smaller than Akron's and the possibility of ending up on the kiss cam without knowing it summed up the vibe: a stadium that cost billions somehow skimped on the thing every other new build treats as a must-have.
Interior shots of a packed Highmark Stadium during preseason action, with the HIGHMARK video board visible above the field.
The money is what makes all of it sting more. Bills Mafia put up over $200 million in personal seat license fees just for the right to buy tickets, on top of the $850 million in public funding that came from New York State and Erie County, and Barstool Sports summed up the frustration bluntly.
Bills Mafia Just Paid $260 Million in PSLs and $850 Million in Public Funds for a Stadium Where They Can't See the Whole Field https://t.co/QpIOOAXWOU
None of this is a death sentence for the building — new stadiums almost always get some early growing-pain complaints, and the small screens were reportedly a deliberate choice meant to keep eyes on the field instead of a jumbotron. But Buffalo hosts the Panthers for its first preseason home game on Aug. 15, and if the obstructed-view photos keep piling up once the building is at full capacity for real football, the Bills are going to have a lot more explaining to do than a design quirk.