Bills remove 1,000 stadium parking spaces, require fans to carpool

Building a new football stadium, regardless of its location, is always an endeavor undertaken with the future in mind; That’s not to say it can’t cause a few headaches in the meantime.

The Buffalo Bills began construction on their new state-of-the-art venue a year ago, just across the street from their current stadium in Orchard Park, New York. The progression and expanded scope of construction will prompt the team to make adjustments to its current parking configuration at Highmark Stadium for the 2024 NFL campaign, with the team announcing it is eliminating approximately 1,000 parking spaces before the new season.

The team will offer approximately 8,000 on-site parking spaces next year, per Buffalo News Ryan O’Halloran, down from a previous high of around 10,000 (this high was not reached in the 2023 season). The decrease is due to the elimination of Lot 3, which was adjacent to the construction site last season. It was across Abbott Road from the present site and extended roughly from the construction site to Big Tree Road. The team suggests fans carpool or use a rideshare service to provide transportation to the game.

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“We hope this year fans continue to use rideshare and plan their travel arrangements in advance,” Andy Major, Bills vice president of operations and customer experience, told O’Halloran . “A lot of fans are already doing it and it’s great and it helps improve the situation.”

To create additional parking in the meantime, the team, according to O’Halloran, plans to allow fans to park at the “youth soccer field” near Lot 7. Game day staff will also be invited to park at the Hamburg Exhibition Center and take a shuttle to the stadium; the exhibition center is six kilometers from the venue, or about a nine-minute drive in fair traffic.

Fans also won’t be able to pay to park in a Bills-controlled lot on game days. According to WKBW, “you must purchase a parking pass in advance” for all Bills-owned parking options, with “game day credit card transactions” not available.

According to WKBW, suite holders and season ticket holders with club level access will have access to Preferred Bundle 2 and Preferred Bundle 6. Non-club and suite season ticket holders may park in Lot 1 and Lot 7; according to O’Halloran, “season ticket holders who had parking passes last year will have the first opportunity to purchase passes in Lots 1 and 7,” and they will still be able to resell them. Individual game parking will be available on lot 4.