Bills open Highmark Stadium, looking to be latest with notable arena debut - ESPN

The Buffalo Bills play their first regular-season game at Highmark Stadium on Thursday, officially opening their new home field.

Buffalo broke ground on the more than $2.1 billion stadium, which holds a capacity of 60,108, 10,000 fewer than its previous home, in May 2023.

Highmark Stadium boasts specific features to combat the Buffalo weather. It includes a natural grass field with underground heating coils to prevent it from freezing. There's the world's largest stadium snow-melt system that automatically monitors and melts snow accumulations using roof sensors. A 360-degree canopy — which covers 60% of the seating bowl — reduces the impact of the wind.

Safe to say, the Bills' new stomping grounds include elements unseen across the league. First on the docket for Buffalo at home? The Detroit Lions on «Thursday Night Football.»

As Buffalo opens its new stadium, here's a look back at notable opening games at NFL teams' active stadiums.

Less than a year after their final game in Oakland, the Raiders officially completed their move to Las Vegas by playing at their new home, Allegiant Stadium. It's one of the most expensive sports venues in the world and has a capacity of 65,000, but it opened in the midst of the coronavirus. Therefore, no fans were allowed in the stadium for the opener.

The Raiders still managed to put on a show on «Monday Night Football.» Las Vegas fell into a 10-0 first quarter deficit to the New Orleans Saints, but outscored them 34-14 the rest of the way to win. Raiders quarterback Derek Carr had 284 passing yards and three touchdowns, while tight end Darren Waller caught 12 passes for 105 yards and a score.

Built at a cost of over $5 billion, SoFi Stadium is the most expensive sports stadium in the