One new thing about the new Bills’ Highmark Stadium
BUFFALO, N.Y. — How do you feel, Bills mafia? Not too good?
Well, News10NBC is going to try to make you feel better right now with an update on the new Bills stadium. News10NBC headed to buffalo to find one thing about the new Highmark Stadium that no one has heard about before.
The design team was coy and protective.
But, Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean got them to share one thing that will be the first of its kind in the NFL.
In Buffalo, Berkeley realized the worst seat in Highmark Stadium is the best to see the New Highmark stadium.
The foundation is getting poured and the foundation walls are going up.
“When this goes up i think people are going to be in awe of the shear volume and size of the facility,” says Frank Cravotta, executive vice president of stadium design.
The cost is $1.5 billion. Frank Cravotta is in charge of the design. John Polka is in charge of the construction.
Berkeley met them inside the M&T suite.
They were inspired by the new stadiums in Minnesota, Las Vegas and San Francisco. The new Highmark is modeled after Tottenham Stadium in London were the Bills played in October.
The canopy is designed for some fan protection, but mostly to hang the sound system so the music hits you in the chest not the back of the head. And the levels are stacked on top of one another.
“As opposed to kind of, what you see behind us, flowing outward, right? So all the seats are closer,” says Cravotta. “It’s louder. It’s more intimate.”
Berkeley asked the team for one thing about the new stadium that no one has heard of before.
“I’m not going to describe exactly what it is but I’ll say it’s the first to be done in the National Football League,” explains Cravotta.
Cravotta says it’s a method to the color design and you’ll see it when you walk into the bowl. The design was one of 50 presented to the Pegulas.
“And I think the story we’re going to tell when you walk in and see it for bills fans is going to be really cool,” Cravotta said.
Berkeley Brean, News10NBC: “And that’s all you can say about it right now?”
Frank Cravotta: “I mean is that enough?”
Brean: “Is it going to say ‘Where else would you rather be than right here right now?'”
Corvatta: “Well, what we’ve learned is to put a logo or to put type. Typography really doesn’t work that well. So it’s more of a pattern. It’s more of a feel.”
Brean: “Ah, zubaz!”
Zubaz is Buffalo high fashion that Stacey Pensgen wears on gameday.
Cravotta: “No but… no.”
Brean: “What you’re saying is that when people walk in they’re going to notice something, they’re going to be taken by something.”
Corvatta: “They are. And I would say knowing the building there are dozens of these stories where you’re going to be, as a Bills fan, blown away.”