NFL team’s new $2.1bn stadium gets official opening date

It is the moment the Buffalo Bills have been waiting for.

The New Highmark Stadium will open its doors to fans for the very first time on September 17.

Getty

Ahead of the full 2026 NFL season schedule release on May 14, Buffalo gave a little teaser to the Bills Mafia about when they could expect to enter their new stadium to watch Josh Allen and co.

They announced that they will host the Detroit Lions in a heavyweight primetime battle for Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night Football in Week 2.

New Highmark Stadium awaits

Their new state-of-the-art facility cost $2.1 billion to construct, and stands a mere 50-feet from their previous home at Orchard Park, which served as their venue since 1973.

Buffalo fans have been waiting since June 2023 for this moment, which was when work on their new home began, with the help of former Bills player Thurman Thomas, whose construction company 34 Group, has been heavily involved.

The Bills have had to deal with several challenges during construction, including a fire, but the timeline for being finished by the start of the 2026 regular season has remained intact.

The 60,108-seater amphitheatre has been specifically designed to tackle the extreme cold weather they face during the winter period in the state of New York.

This is via the implementation of a roof canopy that has been designed to shield 64 percent of the seating capacity from the elements.

Beneath that canopy, the outside of the new stadium has been lined with perforated steel panels.

The purpose of this is to slow down the wind, and steer it over the stadium, which architects believe will create an ‘air bubble’ to keep temperatures up inside the stadium.

Furthermore, the front row of the sidelines has also been shifted to be 54 feet closer to the field than the previous Highmark Stadium.

Despite the technological advancements of the stadium construction itself, the aesthetics of the exterior have been criticized, with it being called an ‘ugly’ soccer style stadium by some.

Getty

Getty

Nonetheless, it is a vast upgrade on their former home, which is set to be demolished, and could yet see them be awarded an opportunity to host a Super Bowl one day.

What other fixtures have been announced?

The NFL has slowly been feeding through what they have in store for the 2026 schedule.

The New York Giants will host the Dallas Cowboys in an NFC East fire-starter to kick off NBC’s Sunday Night Football in Week 1 – the 13th time the two have opened the season against each other.

It has also been announced that the Cowboys will take on Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3, with the game taking place internationally in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the very first time.

This comes as part of a record nine international match-ups that will be played across the season.

Getty

With that in mind, the San Francisco 49ers are confirmed to play against the Los Angeles Rams in a heavyweight NFC West clash down under in Melbourne, Australia on September 11.

Stay up to date with the NFL across all our talkSPORT platforms – subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest news, opinion, exclusive interviews and our daily unfiltered, unscripted show ‘The S* Word, from 8am ET.