Ralph Wilson Stadium

Ralph Wilson Stadium

"The Ralph"
Former names	Rich Stadium (1973–1998)
Location	1 Bills Drive Orchard Park, New York
Coordinates	42°46′26″N 78°47′13″W / 42.774°N 78.787°W / 42.774; -78.787Coordinates: 42°46′26″N 78°47′13″W / 42.774°N 78.787°W / 42.774; -78.787
Owner	Erie County
Operator	Erie County
Capacity	71,857 (current)[1] 80,020 (original)
Surface	A-Turf Titan (2011– ) AstroPlay (2003–2010) AstroTurf (1973–2002)
Construction
Broke ground	April 4, 1972 (1972-04-04)
Opened	August 17, 1973 (1973-08-17) 42 years ago
Construction cost	$22 million (1973)
Architect	HNTB Populous (2013 renovation)
Structural engineer	David M. Berg & Associates Inc.[2]
General contractor	Frank Schoenle Construction
Tenants
Buffalo Bills (NFL) (1973–present)

Ralph Wilson Stadium (originally Rich Stadium) is an outdoor football stadium in the northeastern United States, located in Orchard Park, New York, a suburb south of Buffalo. Opened 42 years ago in 1973, it is the home of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. The stadium was renamed in 1998 for team founder and then-owner Ralph Wilson (1918–2014).

History

An original franchise of the American Football League in 1960, the Buffalo Bills played their first thirteen seasons at War Memorial Stadium, a minor league baseball park in downtown Buffalo. While suitable for AFL play in the 1960s, the "Rockpile" (as the stadium came to be nicknamed), was both in disrepair and, with a capacity of under 47,000, deemed undersized for a National Football League team. The league mandate instituted after the NFL-AFL merger of 1970 dictated a minimum of 50,000 seats.

Rich Stadium opened in 1973,^[3] but in early 1971, owner Ralph Wilson was exploring options to relocate the team, possibly to Seattle,^[4][5] which hastened the stadium project.^[6] Other cities such as Memphis and Tampa soon expressed interest.^[7] The location and construction of the stadium in Erie County were the source of years of litigation,^[8] which ended with a financial settlement for a developer who had planned to erect a domed stadium in Lancaster.^[6][9] However, plans changed because it was not wanted to be close to Lancaster High School.^[10] The stadium was ultimately built by Frank Schoenle and his construction company. Stadium bonds were approved by the county legislature in September 1971.^[11]

Rich Products, a Buffalo-based food products company, signed a 25-year, $1.5 million deal ($60,000 per year), by which the venue would be called "Rich Stadium"; one of the earliest examples of the sale of naming rights in North American sports.^[12] (The name was somewhat of a compromise, after Bills owner and founder Ralph Wilson rejected the name Rich wanted to use, "Coffee Rich Park.")^[13] By a vote of 16 to 4, the county legislature approved the name in November 1972,^[14] despite a matching offer from Wilson to name it "Buffalo Bills Stadium."^[15][16][17]

When the Bills organization regularly referred to the stadium without the "Rich" name, Rich Products brought a $7.5 million lawsuit against the team in 1976.^[18] After the original deal expired after a quarter century in 1998, the stadium was renamed in honor of Wilson. Rich Products balked at paying a greatly increased rights fee,^[19] which would have brought the price up to par with other NFL stadiums.

The first NFL playoff game at the stadium came in the 1988 season, a 17–10 Bills victory over the Houston Oilers on January 1, 1989. The Bills won every ensuing playoff game at the stadium until they were defeated in 1996 by the Jacksonville Jaguars on December 28.

On December 21, 2012, the lease negotiations between the Bills, Erie County, and the state of New York ended with the Bills signing a ten-year lease to stay in Buffalo.^[20]

On January 17, 2013, the Bills revealed the new entrance plaza, sports store, expanded concessions and extra media board designs, created by Populous to the media.

Seating capacity

• 80,020 (1972–1983)^[21]
• 80,290 (1984–1994)^[22]
• 80,024 (1995–1998)^[23]
• 75,339 (1999–2000)^[24]
• 73,967 (2001–2007)^[25]
• 73,079 (2008–2013)^[26]
• 71,857 (2014–present)^[1]

Other sporting events

The size of the field at Ralph Wilson Stadium is specifically designed for National Football League dimensions and sightlines, making it extremely difficult for other outdoor sporting events such as soccer, baseball, track and field, or rugby to be held there. None of any significance have ever been held at the stadium.

Syracuse University played several home games at the stadium in 1979. Syracuse was left without an on-campus home for one season between the demolition of Archbold Stadium and the construction of the Carrier Dome.

On January 1, 2008, the Buffalo Sabres hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2008 NHL Winter Classic.^[27] The Penguins won 2–1 in a shootout in front of more than 71,000 people.

The stadium annually hosts the region's Section VI and Monsignor Martin Athletic Association high school football playoffs.^[28] The stadium rarely hosts college football games; the stadium hosted a Black Friday contest between the UB Bulls and the Bowling Green Falcons in 2013, but before that, the last college football game at the stadium had been in 1979, when the Syracuse Orange football team used the stadium as a temporary venue while the Carrier Dome was under construction.^[29]

The opening ceremony of the 1993 Summer Universiade was held at the stadium.^[30]

Adjacent to the stadium is 1,800-seat Jim Ball Field, the home field for Erie Community College's football team.

On July 14, 1984, the stadium hosted a one-time-only supercross motorcycle racing event.

Concerts

Nearly 30 concerts have been held at the stadium starting in 1974 with Eric Clapton and The Band through 2001.^[31]

Some bands have played the stadium multiple times. This would be The Rolling Stones who played here in 1975, 1978, 1981, and 1997. The Grateful Dead played the stadium a few times in the 80's and early 90's with their July 4, 1989 Truckin' Up to Buffalo performance being documented on CD/DVD. The Who, Dave Matthews and the Jackson Five have all played at the stadium multiple times as well.

Double and multi-billed concerts have also been scheduled at the stadium. The stadium held The Monsters of Rock Festival, featuring Van Halen, Scorpions, Dokken, Metallica and Kingdom Come, on June 19, 1988. Metallica and Guns N' Roses brought the Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour to the stadium on July 25, 1992, with Faith No More as their opening act.

There were notable large concerts that were scheduled to take place at the stadium but were later canceled. Led Zeppelin was set to perform at the stadium on their 1977 North American Tour. The concert was one of the seven remaining concerts on the tour that were canceled due to the death of lead singer Robert Plant's son. A Bruce Springsteen concert, that was originally scheduled at the stadium in 2003 was moved to the smaller Darien Lake Performing Arts Center due to low ticket sales.

Concert appearances began to wane in the 1990s at the stadium. The last concerts held at the stadium were in June of 2001. These two concerts were 'N Sync, who performed at the stadium on June 1, and The Dave Matthews Band, who performed 10 days later. The end of concerts at the stadium was due to a combination of a declining number of stadium rock acts, population decline, and the availability of other, more intimate, venues in Western New York such as Artpark in Lewiston, New York, Darien Lake Performing Arts Center in Corfu, New York, the Thursday at the Square series among others, Seneca Niagara Casino, and the First Niagara Center, which opened in 1996, replacing Buffalo Memorial Auditorium in downtown Buffalo.

On October 23, 2014, it was announced that international pop act One Direction will bring their 2015 On The Road Again tour to Ralph Wilson Stadium on September 3, 2015, which meant that concerts would return to the stadium for the first time in 14 years.^[32]

On March 31, 2015, The Rolling Stones announced that they will perform at the stadium on July 11, as part of the band's Zip Code Tour.^[33] This will be the first concert at the stadium since 2001.

Non-sporting or music events

The stadium has also hosted the Drum Corps International championships three times.

Design

Ralph Wilson Stadium panorama, September 2014

The stadium is open-air, with a capacity of 71,857.^[1] The stadium has never had a natural grass surface; AstroTurf was installed in the stadium upon its opening in 1973. In the 2003 offseason the original style turf was replaced with a newer AstroTurf product, AstroTurf GameDay Grass (also known as AstroPlay). In 2011, the Bills announced they would be changing their turf to a new product, A-Turf Titan, produced by a Western New York company, beginning in the 2011 season. Buffalo will be the only NFL stadium using the A-Turf Titan product.^[34]

The stadium originally had a capacity of 80,020; however, the capacity was reduced in 1998 as a part of the Bills lease renewal with Erie County, New York.^[19] The stadium at that time was refitted with larger seats and more luxury and club seating. The lease agreement also stipulated that Erie County would continue to upgrade the stadium; in summer 2007 a new High Definition Mitsubishi LED board measuring 88.8 by 32.5 feet (27.1 by 9.9 m) and ribbon boards were installed. Total cost for the project was $5.2 million. The new scoreboard replaced the old 41.5 by 31.5 feet (12.6 by 9.6 m) Sony JumboTron installed 13 years earlier for $8 million (inflation adjusted).

Buffalo, by virtue of its position downwind of Lake Erie, is one of the nation's windiest cities, and as a result, Ralph Wilson Stadium often is a difficult stadium for kickers, with swirling winds that change direction rapidly. This is exacerbated by the design of the stadium. The field is 50 feet (15 m) below ground level, while the top of the upper deck stands only sixty feet above ground. The open end lies parallel to the direction of the prevailing winds, so that when the winds come in, they immediately drop down into the bowl, causing the stadium's signature wind patterns.

Future

Although new stadium ideas had been proposed before the death of Ralph Wilson, with the new ownership of Terry and Kim Pegula, the prospect of a new stadium has been raised again. During his press conference to acquire the team, Terry Pegula stated, "we will gradually proceed to plan and design a stadium for the Buffalo Bills."^[35]

Photo gallery

• 

  Buffalo Bills vs Patriots 10/22/06 Orchard Park, NY

• 

  Bills vs Patriots in 2006

• 

  The field house is home to off-season OTAs and weekly practice

• 

  Interior concourse

• 

  Buffalo's downtown skyline as seen from upper deck during dusk.

• 

  Ralph Wilson Stadium from above.

• 

  View of stadium during the 2008 NHL Winter Classic

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ralph Wilson Stadium.

• Official site
• The Standard