With the final construction push for the Buffalo Bills\u2019 new stadium, parking will continue to be an issue for fans of the team. Andy Major, vice president of operations and guest experience met with media to discuss the current parking situation and more. In addition to the problems from last year, there are some new wrinkles when it comes to parking outside and around the current Highmark Stadium.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the media, Major reports that the north end of the lot near where the new stadium is being built (formerly known as Lot 4) was \u201clost\u201d due to the ongoing construction of the new stadium. Per Majors \u201cThat is about 1,000-plus spaces that we\u2019re trying to offset for this season.\u201d That space was popular with the RV crowd, and where a lot of epic tailgating took place.<\/p>\n
Major states that the Bills have been working with the county and ECC to use some of their space to help ease that burden. Additionally, One Bills Drive has gotten creative with some of their property, with Major relating \u201cWe\u2019ve expanded a little bit of our South lots here, where we removed the house, that was a part of our property for game day staff parking.\u201d Speaking of staff, Major indicated the team has a shuttle service for game day staff, presumably to avoid their cars occupying lot spaces.<\/p>\n
That said, Major and the team ask fans to be prepared ahead of time and encourage carpooling. Major felt that fans listened last season and the parking and traffic situations weren\u2019t as bad as they had predicted. Parking at the stadium-owned lots will require a parking pass purchased ahead of time, and Major notes that many private lots outside the team-owned spaces have also started creating permit systems.<\/p>\n
As a fan who weathered the chaos last year, I would echo all of the above If you haven\u2019t secured parking at or near the stadium, you might want to make sure you have decent hiking footwear. That\u2019s not meant to scare you though, there\u2019s space but it might not be quite as close as many fans are used to.<\/p>\n