BUFFALO, N.Y. — Joseph Lombardo was contacted a week and a half ago by a representative at the Bills Experience to discuss his season tickets and the personal seat licenses at the new stadium.
Currently, Lombardo has 8 season tickets for the M&T Bank Suite at Highmark Stadium, it costs him $24,000/season and he needs to commit to at least three seasons to keep them. Lombardo uses the suite along with dozens of other small business owners and non-profit organizations. The purpose of the M&T suite is to provide a club/suite level experience to a wider audience, rather than the ultra-wealthy and guests of the state that often fill up the private suites.
To keep his season tickets at the new stadium, Lombardo, along with any other season ticket holder looking to do the same, will need to purchase a personal seat license.
How much will that cost him?
$400,000.
"I was totally shocked," Lombardo said. "Their fees are compared to Las Vegas and Los Angeles, we don't have the economy to afford tickets like that."
That price tag breaks down to $50,000 per seat license.
Lombardo told the representative that he couldn't do that.
"It was just something that was nowhere near what I could afford," Lombardo said. "They didn't offer any alternative, that was the fee that was the price, and so I had to pass up my season tickets starting in the new stadium."
There has been a lot of confusion, angst, and frustration among season ticket holders over the last several days. Mainly because the word is slowly trickling out from these Bills Experience meetings that to keep their season tickets, fans will need to spend thousands or tens of thousands.
A Facebook group with more than 1,000 members was started last week as a space for season ticket holders to talk about the offers they're getting from the Bills for PSLs.
To further add to his frustration, according to Lombardo, the seats the Bills were offering him weren't actually inside a suite.
"They said that the seats now we're going to the outside the suite," Lombardo said. "I said it's still going to be 20, 30 degrees outside, and you're bringing guests that think they're going to be inside on a suite."
Lombardo and the members of the Facebook group aren't the only ones looking for answers.
2 On Your Side reached out to county executive Mark Poloncarz seeking comment about the issue. A spokesperson said:
"The County Executive expressed his disappointment to the Bills and Legends representatives last week during a tour of the new Stadium Experience, regarding their failure to publicly release the PSL prices. For the record, the county has not been provided any prices/costs regarding the PSLs because we are not a party to the PSL agreement, as the county is out of the football business once the new stadium opens up. We are discussing the matter with the state at this time."
Right now, it's unclear what PSLs will cost Bills fans in other sections of the stadium. When the Minnesota Vikings sold PSLs for their stadium in 2014, the prices ranged from $500 to $9,500.
2 On Your Side also reached out to the Bills and Governor Kathy Hochul's office to comment on the growing frustration amongst fans.
Neither the Bills nor Governor's office responded to our inquiry.
"We've supported this team since the 60s, and we're grateful to have a new stadium," Lombardo said. "But we wish that we could have a new stadium that we could afford to go to, and continue our traditions."