Bills’ Highmark Stadium Debut Begins Boom in New NFL Venues

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — An NFL stadium boom begins in earnest Thursday with the opening of the Bills' new $2.2 billion Highmark Stadium, ushering in a wave of development that promises to alter what's expected at a venue around the league.

After 39 months of construction, the open-air facility in the Buffalo Southtowns is hosting its first regular-season game, a Lions-Bills matchup on Amazon that features two top Super Bowl LXI contenders. Highmark Stadium arrived six years after the last two NFL stadiums to open— Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. That gap was the longest for the NFL between new venues in more than 30 years, but that type of stretch won't be repeated anytime soon.