The Buffalo Bills are still working feverishly to complete their most recent project. They’ve got a goal to be playing in the new stadium when the NFL season begins. Will upgrades to KeyBank Center be coming next?

The New Highmark Stadium has been a long process

It’s pretty crazy to think about how long it’s been since the first whispers of a new stadium began for the Buffalo Bills. You can go back to a time before the Pegulas even owned the Bills and find that they were planning a retractable roof stadium on the Outer Harbor in 2012.  That stadium never came to fruition, but when the Pegulas did eventually buy the team, those talks continued. Now we’re into 2026, and that dream is finally becoming a reality.

The process to begin upgrades is underway at KeyBank Center

Now, the Buffalo Sabres are beginning the process all over again, only this time, it won’t be for a new stadium. It will be to plan upgrades to the current one. According to Buffalo Business First, the team has begun preliminary talks to go over possible upgrades at the current home of the Sabres.

Pete Guelli, president of business operations for the Sabres and Bills, claims that there haven’t been any major renovations or upgrades made at KeyBank Center since it opened 30 years ago, and that it’s the oldest facility in the NHL that hasn’t.

How soon can we expect upgrades to begin?

It doesn’t appear as though these upgrades will begin anytime soon. For now, they’re just in preliminary talks with the architectural firm that is taking care of the New Highmark Stadium, Populous.

“There’s a lot of preparation that goes into even putting yourself in a position to undergo this type of project. So that’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve been prepping.” –  Pete Guelli, president of business operations for the Sabres and Bills.

So while it looks like they’re just talking about it for now and essentially putting feelers out there to see what might be able to be done, and how much it might cost to do it.

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