ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 27: A general view of Highmark Stadium before a game between the Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles Chargers on September 27, 2026 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images) Getty Images
Erie County is “almost three-quarters of the way toward meeting” its goal of raising $4M annually through a 6% surcharge on purchases at the new Bills stadium, just two months after the venue opened, according to Michael Petro of the BUFFALO NEWS. The surcharge instituted for Highmark Stadium events is “raking in an average of” $1.44M per month through September. That adds up to nearly $2.9M in the first two months that the stadium was open. It puts the county “well on its way” to raising the $4M per year over the 30-year stadium lease that officials “anticipated would come from the surcharge.” The 6% surcharge is “being collected on top of the 8.75% sales tax applied to purchases in the county.” All that money will go toward “future upgrades and upkeep to the stadium and its campus and will count toward the county’s portion of those initiatives.” The surcharge is on stadium purchases like “food and drinks, merchandise and at other Bills’ retail outlets in and around the building, as well as on parking in team lots and on tickets being purchased” (BUFFALO NEWS, 11/6).