Bills to receive new turf for 2019 season

According to a report, Erie County will pay $3 million for improvements to New Era Field, including a new playing surface.

While the debate rages on about whether the Buffalo Bills will build a new stadium or renovate New Era Field, the team’s current home, there’s a report from WXXI News out of Rochester that the team will be replacing its artificial turf playing surface before the 2019 season.

In an audio interview with William Geary, Erie County’s Public Works Commissioner, Erie County will be footing the bill for approximately $3 million worth of improvements in Orchard Park, site of New Era Field, including funding for a new turf playing surface for the Bills.

“This will be the latest and greatest updated field,” Geary told WXXI. “We’re looking at just under $3 million worth of work and that’s various improvements to the stadium, from some as simple as painting and concrete repairs, site improvements. ... The big ticket price project this year is we’re replacing the turf and track on the main field.”

Most artificial turf playing surfaces can be expected to last between eight and ten years. As the team enters its sixth year of a ten-year lease at New Era Field with Erie County, this will be the first time the turf playing surface at New Era Field has been replaced since 2011.

In the interview with WXXI, Geary mentioned there were other improvements planned at New Era Field as part of the $3 million in funding, including repairs to the stadium parking lots and to the asphalt that lies underneath the turf field. The projects are supposed to commence May 1, with everything expected to be completed by the time the team returns to Buffalo following training camp.

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