ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — A person with direct knowledge of the details tells The Associated Press the Buffalo Bills' proposed new stadium would include about 60,000 seats and be built by 2027.
The $1.4 billion venues would not include a roof but a majority of the seats would be protected from the elements.
The report states there were three potential locations for the stadium that were considered before choosing the parking lot across the street from the current stadium.
The University at Buffalo North campus and the Perry projects site in downtown Buffalo were also considered.
The proposed seating capacity is about 12,000 seats less than the current stadium and would make it the smallest capacity of any NFL stadium.
For comparison, The New England Patriot's Gillette Stadium has a capacity of 65,878 people and was built in 2002.
Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the Indianapolis Colts has a capacity for just over 67,000 people and was built in 2008.
However, some local experts told 2 On Your Side making the new stadium a smaller venue was expected.
"The size is just about right. I think 70 plus thousand seats was probably too much for a team that is in this kind of market, a smaller market even with the great interest that is there," said Buffalo Bills Insider Vic Carucci. "When you lower the number of seats of course you can increase demand when your team is as good as this one is and that's a factor, they can set price points that are going to be commensurate with the fewer amount of seats."
"First you have to think about that Buffalo is the second smallest market in the NFL," said Mark Ganis from Sports-Corp LTD, an expert in professional sports venues. "The second thing to think about is you want a scarcity of tickets rather than people always being able to get tickets to a very large stadium."
The Bills are in discussions with county and state officials about the new stadium. At issue is how quickly a deal can be approved, and how the construction costs would be split between the team and taxpayers.
The team's current stadium was built in 1973.