Bills fans pay steep price for beer, food at Highmark Stadium opener

Buffalo Bills fans got their first regular-season look at the team’s new $2.1 billion Highmark Stadium on Thursday night, and along with a lopsided win over the Detroit Lions, they got a look at just how much a beer and a bucket of popcorn now costs.

The Bills routed the Lions, 41-31, in the venue’s first regular-season game, with quarterback Josh Allen throwing three touchdown passes and running for two more. The 60,108-seat stadium, built across the street from the Bills’ old home, holds about 10,000 fewer fans than its predecessor.

But according to OutKick, the new building’s concession prices were the bigger shock for fans walking through the gates. A 16-ounce Labatt beer paired with one of the stadium’s new souvenir beer horns ran $30 apiece. One couple told the outlet they spent $113 on two beers, two of the horns, a bucket of popcorn and a personal pizza.

Other concession prices OutKick documented at the opener included a souvenir bucket of popcorn for $19, dill pickle popcorn for $10, pierogies for $14, a sweet Italian sausage sub for $14 and an order of chicken wings for $18.

The beer horns, which come with lids so fans can carry them through the concourse without spilling, also created long lines. One fan told OutKick he had waited “an hour and fifteen minutes” just to get one.

The concourses themselves added to the congestion, with areas near the horn sales in the stadium’s 300 level packed for much of the evening. Fans camped outside before kickoff at the Hammer Lot, where longtime tailgate host Pinto Ron and his crew have built a reputation as one of the more notorious pregame gathering spots in Bills Mafia’s tailgating culture.