The Buffalo Bills are selling off seats ahead of their final game at Highmark Stadium in January. The steep price tags announced Wednesday have made some fans around the country hold their wallets a little tighter, though.
The Bills are asking their notoriously dedicated fans to cough up $550 for a double bleacher seat. A more traditional pair of seats features a $650 price tag. Even seatbacks are running $100.
Erie County owns the stadium, which is being replaced by a new outdoor venue just steps away. The municipality will receive the proceeds from the memorabilia sale, while the Bills will be responsible for creating the collectibles and removing the seats.
“Thanks to this great partnership, fans can bring a piece of Highmark Stadium home with them and ensure that memories of the old stadium never fade away but are cherished forever,” Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz said in a release.
Season-ticket holders will receive a discount on their memorabilia purchases. More souvenirs from the site will be listed for sale in the coming months, Bills officials said.
“Bills fans are the best in the NFL. They are loyal, passionate, charitable, caring, and they know the history of their team,” said Andy Major, the Bills’ senior vice president of venue operations and fan experience. “We are excited to help provide Bills fans everywhere with some fun and unique options to obtain a piece of our proud past that they can admire for years to come.”
The plan hasn’t won over Buffalo’s fanbase, known as “Bills Mafia.” Some fans on social media have jokingly asked what socket they’d need to pick the seats out on their own. Others have cautioned about a riot following the season finale against the New York Jets.
The steep prices appear to be the issue.
“The thousands of dollars I have put toward this team the last 17 years in this place and the thousands of dollars that I have put in for the future. Disappointed in how this is going,” Tom Reid, an X user who identified himself as a season-ticket holder, wrote on Thursday. “Hard pass.”
Other social media commenters were more succinct.
“At first, I was like ‘awesome,’” one X user posted. “Than I was like ‘Get bent.’”
The stadium, which opened in 1973, hosted three AFC championship games during the 1990s. The Bills won all of them as they lost four straight Super Bowls. The NHL used the frigid venue for the site of the inaugural Winter Classic between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres in 2008.
