ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — 2 On Your Side was granted the first television access to the upper concourse of the new Buffalo Bills stadium, where freshly poured concrete marks a turning point in construction.
Looking out across Abbott Road, your feet are almost even with the top of Highmark Stadium.
"Very few people will be able to get up here prior to 2026," said Frank Cravotta, the Senior Vice President of New Stadium Design.
To his right, the first steel that will support 300-level seating is going up, and so are pre-cast concrete staircases leading up to the concourse.
Cravotta gestures to show how additional steps will eventually lead fans to the top row, adding that each level of the new stadium will give fans a different experience.
"Down on the 100 level you will feel, it will sound, you will feel the players warming up, there will be more energy. Up here it's just the huge expanse of the structure, it's more of the awe," Cravotta said.
Awe that includes a view of downtown Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Lake Erie that's designed to be a focal point of the upper concourse with a bar and party deck for fans to enjoy.
"Until you get up here for the first time, you know but you can't feel it... as you can see, it's pretty cool," said Cravotta.
The deck is one of several spaces designed for Bills Mafia to operate more independently from their seat.
The new stadium is designed to make it easier to meet up, according to John Polka, Vice President of Stadium Development. This is because both the lower and upper concourses will wrap around the entire stadium, unlike the design of Highmark Stadium.
"'Let's go grab a drink and hang out for a bit,' in the winter time those are the areas where we've also concentrated the radiant heat," said Polka.
He discussed how the concourses and the stadium itself will make it clear that visiting fans are in Buffalo Bills country.
"One of Terry's edicts was: 'drop me anywhere in that stadium and I want to know I'm in Buffalo,'" Polka said.
Concessions and bathrooms have been shifted to the outside edge of the stadium. Instead of only catching a glimpse of the field through a tunnel like at Highmark Stadium, the concourse will be open to the field.
"So you don't have the barrier and it helps block the wind," Cravotta added.
"I think when people come inside their proximity whether they're walking around the stadium or they're in their seats is really what they take away," said Polka.
Pre-cast risers have already started being installed along the lower bowl, making the very active construction site feel more like a stadium and not a skeleton. Polka said seats will be going in about a year from now.
Heading down to the field and through the very tunnel that future Bills players will charge out of, the stadium rises around you, steeper and more intimidating by design, the two explained.
The floor of the stadium is bedrock that was milled down by construction crews and almost resembles a paved road. Polka said the field and playing surface will consist of two layers on top of the shale that will add about a foot to the floor height.
With about 500 professionals on-site daily, he said fans will continue to see steel and pre-cast concrete risers and stairs going in through the start of football season, but when the canopy starts going up this fall, a lot more work will start happening.
"The crew sizes are going to continue to ramp up to about 1,200 by next spring, so things are really going to ramp up through the spring and summer of next year," Polka said.
It's work that both men, who are also Buffalonians, along with most of their design team, don't take lightly. In moments gazing out from the upper concourse, they understand that what they're building is for the entire Bills fan base.
"You're experiencing things for the first time and then in a lot of ways, the last time, because until the building is done, it just changes constantly," said Cravotta.
"The days are so busy, and the weeks are so short, and then you finally come out here and you're like, 'man, this is pretty cool,'" Polka said.
A new home built for and by members of Bills Mafia are eager for the first family gathering in 2026.