Goodbye, old friend. Paying tribute to Rich Stadium-Highmark Stadium. Post your memories.

[Beast]

The bad…..Sitting in a second half monsoon in the 1979 opener, only to watch Tom Demsey shank a 34 yard game winning kick that would have ended the streak against the Dolphins.

Edited Sunday at 04:03 PM by Beast

[Bigvinny]

Pretty sure this was my first game at rich stadium. Cowboys at Bills 11/18/84. Greg Bell ripped off an 85 yarder. The Bills only win of the season.

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198411180buf.htm

Edited Sunday at 04:10 PM by Bigvinny

[BILLS 4 EVER]

18 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

Saw The Rolling Stones at Rich when I was sixteen, the the place was packed, it was a really good show, great atmosphere, although that atmosphere was clouded with refer smoke, lol, 😁🍸🚬 good times👍 

I was there too. Awesome concert and great memories. Saw The Who there too.

[Let's Go Buffalo]

I was blessed to be able to see a Bills win in this stadium at the first game that I took my son to.....and it was against the Jets as well. Not only that, it was the first game of the season that year.....the same year that we ended our 17 year play-off drought! Go Bills!

[PonyBoy]

A little off topic, but related. My cousin and I rode our bikes downtown to Niagara Falls to the Rainbow Mall in 1983. the Grateful Dead was playing a show in the old Convention center, now casino. It was so easy to walk on that roof from the base. Just walk up the from the sides and you could go all the way to the top. 

 

Anyway... we get downtown and there must have been literally a 1000+ Dead Heads camped all over that roof, top to bottom with sleeping bags, blankets. coolers, smoking doobies, screaming etc... This was like at 1 or 2 pm, crazy!

No police, probably didn't even make the news, just the way it was back in the day. 

 

Good times!

[First Round Bust]

my visits unfortunately have been spasmodic and mostly losses:

 

70s - OJ and Braxton each run for 100 yards each and the Bills get freaking shut-out - 17-0..including first and goal at the 1 and do not score right in front of us in the end zone seats...sigh...

2000s - first game of the post-Kelly era starts with a loss to the Vikes

first ever game for Josh - pre-season opener vs Panthers - starts second half with and audible and throws the ball 65 yards down the left sideline- incomplete - for all this greatness the long-ball with some touch-loft has not been in his skills set..but he scrabled around the 2-3-4-5 stringers like he should be on Dancing with the Stars.

Nov 1 Hall of Fame running backs game - Wash and Peterson vs Bills and Gore - we won one that I witnessed..a

met alumni autographs session: Bruce, Norwood and Ritcher, Bruce was with family and dressed like it was a North Pole expedition as my friends from Wash make the pilgrimage with me and state that was the coldest 40 degrees they never want to remember...cloudy and windy all game..

 

I did some road games in Balt and DC over the years as well...and Rockplie games in my misspent youth... 1-1-1 (tie last game ever at the War Memorial)

 

 

 

 

[cale]

20 hours ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

Flutie bootleg against the Jaguars 

Was there. What an incredible moment.

[DeltaDigital]

was there in 1990, or 1989 when the bills scored 3 times in 70 (or so) seconds to beat the elway broncos. Was probably 9 or 10. hooked for life. 

 

[PonyBoy]

1 hour ago, Bigvinny said:

Pretty sure this was my first game at rich stadium. Cowboys at Bills 11/18/84. Greg Bell ripped off an 85 yarder. The Bills only win of the season.

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198411180buf.htm

 

 Don't exaggerate! The Bills won 2! that year! 😅 

 

Bills won 1 more out of their last four starting a "hot" streak... then the season ended. 😏

 

I was at the game as well, felt like a playoff win. The roar of that Greg Bell run in the stadium was epic. 

That win kept the Cowboys from the playoffs that year. Giants won the tiebreaker at 9-7

[May Day 10]

The craziest thing were the old smoking areas that would be set aside in the '00s.  

At halftime it would be absolutely packed and you would see so much/the most drought-era hijinks

[DaVinci]

Thing I wont miss,

Frozen aluminum seats

Crowded bathrooms with people peeing in sinks and troughs

The old concrete field

Sardine concourse during half time

Sewage spilling from the Bathrooms  into the hall.

 

 

[Sargent Hulka]

https://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers 21/Buffalo NY Courier Express/Buffalo NY Courier Express 1973/Buffalo NY Courier Express 1973 19123_1.pdf

[Don Otreply]

2 hours ago, BILLS 4 EVER said:

I was there too. Awesome concert and great memories. Saw The Who there too.

Awesome, bet it was a good show 👍

[FieldGeneral]

22 hours ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

Flutie bootleg against the Jaguars 

I was at this one. 

[Wacka]

1 hour ago, DeltaDigital said:

was there in 1990, or 1989 when the bills scored 3 times in 70 (or so) seconds to beat the elway broncos. Was probably 9 or 10. hooked for life. 

 

That was 9/30/90. Was there. Have told this before. My dad was in the oncology ward at Mercy Hospital.The next day I went to pick up my mom who was visiting him all day at about 5 PM.  Told him about the game and we were ready to leave, Dad said he couldn't sleep and wanted to go to sleep. Suddenly, he starts coughing up blood(had lung cancer) and died a minute later.

[PastaJoe]

I was at the very first Bills game played at Rich Stadium. A pre-season game vs Washington. My parents, sister, and I drove from Syracuse. The Thruway was jammed for miles. But since we left early we were there from the start. Sat in the last row up top so we could see all the traffic. Herb Mul-Key ran the opening kickoff back for a Redskin TD. Cars and buses were still driving in at halftime. I still have the commemorative coin they handed out.

[eball]

19 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Man, I have so many memories in that stadium. Florida and Rich Stadium are the overwhelming majority of my childhood memories. 
 

5 favorite in no particular order (off the top of my head so I’m sure I’m forgetting a bunch):

- Comeback Game

- Raiders AFC Championship (probably my favorite)

- Carlton Bailey interception

- Perfect Game

- Lawyer Milloy Game

 

I was at four of those five (not the Milloy game), and it’s a great list.  I’d add the KC AFCCG and the miraculous “67 seconds” game vs. Denver during the ‘90 regular season.

 

[Southern McButterpants.]

On 2/22/2025 at 4:05 PM, billsfan714 said:

51-3 vs Raiders in AFC Championship has to be top or 1b to the comeback against the Oilers.

Nothing will ever be as exhilarating as the second half of that AFCCG, drinking champagne, smoking victory cigars, and realizing we were going to the Super Bowl. 

[cgang]

Went to the Nov 1981 game against the Patriots with my brother and my dad.  I was 11.  Freezing cold/rainy sleet and I think I left part of my 11 year old butt cheek frosted to the metal bleacher in the end zone where it is probably still to this day.  We gave up just before the final drive (just too cold and they were losing), were making our way out of the stadium, and then ran back in with a bunch of others just in time to see the Hail Mary at the end.  
 

The fandemonium game and the goal posts after.

 

Camping out for playoff seats in 1988 and going to that Bills/Oilers game (the first one, not the comeback game).  80,000 pompoms. 
 

And seeing The Who there in 1989 with my high school buddies just before going off to college.  

Winter Classic.  Couldn’t see much but it was classic/awesome! 
 

I’ll be sad to see the ol’ girl go.  So many memories

[Low Positive]

I used to get taken to a lot of games in the mid 80's because tickets were often free. Here's the ones I remember

• Kay Stevenson's last game as coach against the Vikings on 9/29/85. Fans had bags on their heads and serenaded for Kay's firing. They sang Goodbye Kay to the tune of some old vaudeville song. 
• Jim Kelly's first game as a Bill against the Jets (9/7/86). Bills lost a close game, but I remember a play where Jim tripped at the snap, popped back up and threw a TD pass. Seemed like a new day.
• I was at every home game against the Fins between 1983 and 1987 because my stepfather bought those tickets. They finally won in 1987 but then tickets got more expensive and I stopped being taken to games. 
• 1988 Divisional Game against the Oilers. Got free tickets when adults were too hungover to go because the game was on New Year's Day.