ALTOONA, Pa. -- When Beaver Stadium is thought of typically it's about a white out or a big college football game, but now potential temporary home of the Buffalo Bills can be added to the list.
The Bills are planning to build a new, open-air stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y. that will take 3-5 years to complete from start to finish. While that news out of Buffalo is good for the community, the issue is the lease the Bills currently have at Highmark Stadium expires in 2023 leaving one season, if not more, where they would need a place to play while the new stadium is under construction.
Enter Beaver Stadium. Only a little under 200 miles from Orchard Park, Penn State's home field could be one of the potential relocation spots for the Bills, along with Toronto. Relocating to Canada would be a logistical nightmare with customs and different issues, but with Beaver Stadium being only a four-hour drive away, it's something worth thinking about.
Buffalo assuredly would prefer to extend its lease with Highmark Stadium until the new stadium is finished, but the relationship Penn State has with the Pegula family who own the Bills makes it the perfect destination should there be a need to relocate. The Pegula's donated over $100 million to fund the men's and women's ice hockey programs along with their arena the Pegula Ice Arena just a few hundred feet from Beaver Stadium on Penn State's campus.
It could be the perfect marriage with Penn State needing funding for renovating Beaver Stadium and hosting the Bills with 110,000 fans would be sure to help in that regard and throughout the community with Bills Mafia flocking to Penn State on Sundays.
There would be some logistical hoops to go through with scheduling and where Buffalo would be training throughout the week whether it would continue to be Orchard Park or whether the entire operation moved to University Park. The biggest issue scheduling wise would be whether Penn State could play at home and the Bills play at Beaver Stadium the next day. The playing surface could be a concern, but so to could the travel and lodging of the away teams
For this to be pulled off, a lot of things would have to fall in line with the first being the non-renewal of the lease at Highmark Stadium. If that happens, which at this point seems unlikely, it opens the door for the Bills to call Beaver Stadium home.
Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour should be speaking with the media at Big Ten Media Day in July which could help provide a clearer picture of this ongoing possibility.
