Why doesn't the Bills' new stadium have any grass? Here's what's happening
The field at the Bills' new $2.2 billion Highmark Stadium is just dirt right now. Here's why the grass is gone and when it'll be back.
The Buffalo Bills have not played a regular-season game at their new $2.2 billion stadium yet, and they are already on their second field. The first grass surface at Highmark Stadium did not last long, as chunks of the original Kentucky bluegrass came loose during the first football events in August. The Bills decided to strip the sod from the field this week, leaving it almost entirely bare less than two weeks before their home opener against the Detroit Lions on September 17.
The new grass is expected to be fully installed by the end of the week and ready before the Lions game. The initial sod was installed in October 2025, about a year before the stadium's first regular-season game. Problems with the grass became evident during the Bills' preseason games, with large pieces of sod being displaced due to player contact.
The grounds crew replaced the sod after determining that the issue was larger sections of the top layer of grass getting pushed apart when players made contact at different angles. The new sod, grown by Tuckahoe Turf Farms in New Jersey, is expected to be stronger than the original turf. The Bills began removing the old grass on Monday and expect to have the new surface installed by the end of the week, providing ample time for the field to be ready for the September 17 home opener.
Written by urgent.news from Yahoo Sports's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
