The Buffalo Bills Could Play Home Games Elsewhere Before 2026

The Buffalo Bills officially have a new stadium agreement with Erie County and New York State.

It’s a 30-year lease for an open-air stadium to be built on Abbott Road in Orchard Park, across the street from Highmark Stadium. It won’t become 100 percent official until New York lawmakers sign off, which is considered a formality.

The Bills will play at Highmark Stadium until 2026, which is the expected completion of the new, yet to be named stadium of 62k capacity.

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While the Bills are planning on playing games at Highmark Stadium through the 2025 season, it’s not a slam dunk they will.

Nick Veronica of WIVB pointed out on Twitter that the Bills new stadium memorandum of understanding, states that if Highmark Stadium is deemed “unsafe” to play before the new stadium is completed, then the team would have to play its home games elsewhere in New York State.

However, the team could play outside of the state if they and the NFL cannot find a suitable location. That’s interesting.

If you remember back in 2014, the Bills moved a November home game against the New York Jets to Detroit’s Ford Field. That was because of Snowvember.

The Bills could have played at locations such as the Carrier Dome but parties involved chose not to. Would that happen again here?

The 2021 stadium study said the upper deck at Highmark Stadium would need to be replaced by 2027, so there is some worry about the structural integrity of the stadium; and if you’ve been there lately, you may have noticed cracks and considerable wear and tear.

Both the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks had to play home games at college venues before their new stadiums were ready, as did the Tennessee Oilers, before they became the Titans after moving from Houston.