These Local Staples Should Be Inside The New Highmark Stadium

The New Highmark Stadium will be open at the beginning of the 2026 season, and now is the time to start planning for food.

There will be new food at the new stadium

Currently, Delaware North has the contract with Highmark Stadium, but in the new stadium across the street, it will be Legends that will be taking the reins. They're the same food company that takes care of stadiums like Yankee Stadium in New York City, AT&T Stadium in Dallas, and SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

According to escapehatchdallas.com, some of the foods you can find at AT&T Stadium include:

• Lobster mac & cheese
• Fried mozzarella burger
• Buffalo chicken nachos
• Touchdown tots
• Cheetos mac & cheese balls
• Tacos
• Chicken wraps

and more...

We need local food inside the stadium

What if we could use the food at the stadium to accurately display some of the incredible food we have here in Western New York?

A while back, I asked which restaurants you would like to see at the new stadium once it opens, and many of you either named local restaurants or came right out and said, "Keep away from the chains. Stay with locally owned restaurants."

Here are reasons why it would be good

How many people come to Western New York to go to a Bills game, only to fly in, stay at a hotel, order pizza from whichever restaurant is close, Uber to the game, then Uber back to the hotel before flying out the next day?

They never actually experience the city. We've all done it. Very rarely do we get the opportunity to go explore cities that we're traveling to. We're in and out and miss so much. But if (at the very least) we had food in the stadium from the local restaurants that were here, they could say they tried wings from Bar-Bill or an actual beef on weck from Charlie The Butcher or Eckls.

Here's why it probably won't happen

Restaurant space at a stadium like that comes at a premium price. Where else can you almost guarantee 60,000 fans with few options to choose from? The stadium would charge a pretty penny for space like that. Unfortunately, that's money that a lot of the little guys don't have. Would it be worth it? Probably, but most probably wouldn't be able to afford the upfront costs that the stadium would require.

But we can dream...

If you could put a local restaurant in the new stadium, who would you choose?