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00:00All right, Sal, well, how was the stadium tour and the whole ceremony today?
00:05I mean, the stadium tour was incredible.
00:07The stadium is amazing, and, yeah, the ceremony was good.
00:11They did a really fine job, and, you know, the ribbon-cutting,
00:15and, you know, you've been at these kinds of things,
00:16and they've had them here at the stadium a few times for different things along the way,
00:21you know, the groundbreaking and the last beam that went up.
00:23Topping off, right, yeah.
00:24Yeah, and now today, but, I mean, you know, for us and the media,
00:28for me to get a tour of that stadium, and, you know,
00:31there were a lot of Buffalo media there who are not Bill's beat reporters.
00:35They're not people who cover the team on a regular basis.
00:38They're news people or some other, you know, entertainment, whatever it is,
00:42and, you know, might be on TV and, you know, anchors,
00:44but there were people who asked me, hey, you know, how does this compare?
00:49Because I have been to all but three NFL stadiums,
00:52and I will tell you the answer I gave them is the answer I'm going to tell everybody right now.
00:56Now, I'm not saying this because I'm Sal and Buffalo on the radio,
00:59because it can sound like that sometimes.
01:01It is as nice or nicer than any stadium I've been in.
01:05It is brand new.
01:06There's no doubt.
01:07Like, it reminds me in different ways of different stadiums.
01:10Like, for example, when you walk around, like, the suites or the, you know,
01:15the hallways or whatever, the nicer areas of SoFi, you know, it's pretty new.
01:19Like, this is just, it's just like that.
01:21The difference is SoFi is a venue.
01:24It's an entertainment venue.
01:25It is not actually built to be a football stadium.
01:27That is part of what they do.
01:29They're actually going to have swimming in the Olympics at SoFi.
01:32They're putting pools there, right?
01:34Like, this, though, is a football stadium.
01:36So you get all that, and then you walk in and say, oh, yeah, this is for football.
01:39The first time today that I, this, today was the first time that I've been there.
01:43I've been inside there maybe like four times.
01:45Today was the first one where I actually felt when I was on the field,
01:49there was a football game coming up.
01:51It felt like a pregame getting to the stadium early with the music
01:55and maybe a handful of people there doing some different things, getting ready,
01:59and you get a little bit of, you know, those juices flowing, like,
02:02oh, there's something happening here today.
02:03Like, today was the first time I felt that.
02:05Yeah.
02:05For me, not being able to get out there today,
02:08today was a day where there's times when there's news conferences happening
02:13or just any news at all, like a Wednesday injury report where I question
02:18how smart it is to follow the number of people that are on the beat that I do
02:23because it's very repetitive.
02:25You know, it's just like one after the other after the other.
02:27Like, here's, you know, maybe slightly different wording,
02:30but, like, the same message.
02:31Today was a day that I was extremely pleased that I've maintained following all of those people
02:39because everyone was posting different pictures and different videos,
02:42and I feel like if I'd been there, I might not have seen as much of the stadium
02:47as I saw following, you know, a half a dozen or more of folks like yourself
02:52who cover the team.
02:54And, I mean, I'm still not having set foot in there.
02:58It's hard to be blown away, but I'm pretty much blown away by what I've seen so far, Sal.
03:04There's lots of really cool touches, I think.
03:08One of which Kathleen Fitzgerald, who's one of these reporters I'm referring to.
03:13Catherine Fitzgerald.
03:14Catherine, thank you.
03:14God, sorry.
03:17She posted some pictures of art displays and I think said eventually there's going to be, like,
03:25a little QR code so you can, on your phone, find out who and maybe even, you know,
03:31patronize this artist in some other way if you really like their work.
03:35And I just think, and I happen to know a couple of people who've been commissioned to do that work.
03:39I'm just so pleased that that's a piece of this to me.
03:43Like, I would have never thought a football stadium going up would feature that.
03:48And, I mean, I know that's not top of mind for everyone,
03:50but I just think it's a really nice touch that they were thoughtful enough to include.
03:57I'm glad you mentioned Catherine's tweet about that.
04:00By the way, she's at KFITS134 if people want to see the pictures because I did not take a picture
04:06of all the different art.
04:07I took a picture of one of, that was really cool.
04:09There was actually a completely made of Legos, stadium and fans.
04:14And it was really cool.
04:15I'm like, oh, that's awesome.
04:16So I took a picture.
04:17And then all the artwork, and I'm like, man, I didn't really take a picture of a lot of the
04:20artwork they were talking about.
04:21And all the different things.
04:22There's a great big portrait of Ralph Wilson in there.
04:25And I even tweeted out a picture of the Lego thing that I'm talking about.
04:29And I said, hey, there's so much artwork in there.
04:32And then when Catherine did, I'm like, I'm so glad she did that because it deserves its attention.
04:36And it's really paying homage to local artists and to Buffalo.
04:41And what I mean by that is there's a lot of stuff in there that I'm telling folks right now,
04:46if they're going to go to games, you might not learn for years and years or maybe never.
04:49You have to kind of pay attention to or read about or really care about maybe all the little details
04:54that do have to kind of do with Buffalo in some way, shape or form.
04:58They've incorporated.
04:59There was one little tiny piece that we're looking at, like, see how that's curved?
05:04That's because it's in the style of the grain elevators.
05:07I'm not kidding.
05:07Right.
05:07That's like, OK, yeah, that looks right.
05:09Like, oh, yeah, I can see that totally right there.
05:11There's another piece.
05:12It's just like the odd, the Albright Knox art gallery.
05:15And then you have the art that's right in there.
05:17Super cool.
05:18So, you know, when they say they made it for Buffalo to represent Buffalo, I don't think you get the
05:23full scope of that unless you really care to understand what all of that means and see it.
05:28So you guys were allowed to tweet pictures of anything you saw, unlike camp?
05:35Yes and no on the media tour.
05:38Yes.
05:38But we were given a separate tour of just the media who cover the team regularly of like press box,
05:46locker room, things like that.
05:47And that was just for us.
05:49OK, so that we knew it really was for our operation.
05:52Like they started us here.
05:53You're going to walk in here.
05:55Here's where the players are coming in.
05:56You can get shots of arrivals here.
05:58Then you take your credential.
05:59You go to this area.
06:00Come up this elevator.
06:02Here's the press box.
06:03This is where everything's located in the press box.
06:05After the game, go down this elevator to get to the locker room.
06:08Here's the locker room.
06:09Here's the postgame press room.
06:10All that kind of stuff.
06:12How, just to ask, how much of an adjustment is this for players, really?
06:17I mean, a lot of these guys have been on other teams anyway.
06:20They haven't spent their entire football lives at the old place.
06:22But I don't know.
06:24I mean, are there areas where something meaningful will be different in terms of preparation or just, I don't know,
06:33the field itself?
06:33I mean, it's grass field, for one thing.
06:35That's a change.
06:37Grass field with turf sidelines.
06:39Except for, and that's not uncommon in the NFL now.
06:42There's a few stadiums like that.
06:43I think Cleveland, Pittsburgh, some of the northeast fields with grass.
06:46I think Kansas City might do that now, too.
06:48But except for the one little patch of grass on the sidelines, which is for the kicker and punter to
06:53warm up to get ready.
06:54So they can be ready to go out on the field like that.
06:57There is, I would say this, Mike, to answer your question, is I don't think it's much of an adjustment
07:02because they play at new stadiums all the time.
07:04Like, every week you're in a new stadium, basically.
07:07Today, several of us commented to each other, I feel like I'm just at a road stadium, like for the
07:12first time.
07:12Like, I'm visiting a road stadium that I've never been in, and I have to learn about it because when
07:16you get to those road stadiums, sometimes that's it.
07:17You get in there, you learn about where you're going, kind of the DNA of the place, where this is,
07:22where that is.
07:23Well, that's what it felt like a little bit today, but we are on our own stadium.
07:27I think there are a couple things, though.
07:28I think one of the biggest changes for this team, if they've been on the team, they do have a
07:35really nice locker room.
07:36Although, Bulldog, I know you've never been in there.
07:37I listened the other day.
07:38I do know they do have a really nice locker room at the older Highmark Stadium, which has been renovated
07:44over the years a few times.
07:46But the new one is just spacious and spectacular and super easy to navigate and see your teammates right there.
07:55More like a hockey locker room would be designed, if that makes sense, you know what I mean?
07:58But bigger because there's so many guys.
08:00And then, like, the seats they're sitting in with their outlets on the wall and to pull the seat up
08:04to put stuff in.
08:05Like, that's going to be really cool.
08:06But then, there is, and I don't think we saw this today.
08:10I didn't see it personally, but I know it's there.
08:12There is, like, a, I don't want to say how long it is without knowing for sure.
08:15I might be 30 yards, 20 yards, 40 yards.
08:18There's a field, like a turf field under near the locker room where players will be able to, like, warm
08:23up.
08:24Or if they're injured in the game, they can go and they can be, like, they can rehab and run
08:27and do high knees and work out.
08:29Like, that's new.
08:30I've never seen anything like that.
08:31And they're going to have that ability to do that, like, right there inside, like, the tunnel, you might call
08:37it, or near the locker room without, like, anybody seeing them in just being kind of a private area.
08:43All of the different amenities they need for training during a game and all the things you can think of
08:47with, you know, working out or tubs and stuff like that, I'm sure, are also a part of it right
08:51there on site.
08:52And then, you know, when they walk out, so, the team will walk out of a tunnel in the corner
08:58of the end zone for the game.
09:00They'll go out there, they'll warm up, they'll go back in.
09:03When they go in at halftime for the game, it's halftime, they're going to go in under their bench, okay,
09:09right behind their bench, there's that locker room.
09:10And you guys know there's field club now, and people can have by seats, and the field club gets you
09:14there.
09:15So, they'll go in that way.
09:16When they come back out at halftime, it's very much like Dallas when you see it.
09:19They will walk past fans who have field club access who can just go down there, and I think that's
09:24just like a waist-high glass.
09:25It's not even like a big barrier there where you could literally – these guys might be able to give
09:29you high fives, essentially.
09:31I think I can guess, but I'm not sure.
09:33What are the three stadiums you haven't seen?
09:36Vegas, San Francisco, Arizona?
09:38Correct, because of COVID, yes.
09:40Right.
09:41The Bills were in Vegas, and they were in Arizona.
09:43They played San Francisco in Arizona anyway.
09:46So, they haven't been to San Francisco in a long time.
09:49The Bills.
09:50That was the – the last time they were there was the year before I became the sideline reporter.
09:54So, you know, that's why I didn't go to Arizona that year either.
09:58And then – so that would be, what, 2013?
10:00And then, you know, Vegas during COVID, they would have went there.
10:04And, of course, Arizona as well.
10:05And like you said, San Francisco.
10:06I mean, all three were essentially on the list.
10:08Yep.
10:08And then, you know, there was a Super Bowl in Vegas, a Super Bowl in San Fran, right?
10:12I think that all that's happened since, I think.
10:14I don't look at it, right.
10:15Yeah, yeah.
10:16It never really happened there.
10:17But they will go to Vegas this year.
10:19So, I'll be in Vegas for the first time.
10:20And I think that, like, Vegas was one of these stadiums.
10:24Like, I know that people in the Bills' front office and Terry Pagula and his team, I know they went
10:30to a lot of different stadiums around the league.
10:32And, like, I think Vegas was also one of them that, like, kind of stood out to be like, oh,
10:35yeah, they've done a lot of cool things here that, you know, we can take little bits and pieces from.
10:40And I heard Terry Pagula make mention of having been to Tottenham as well, which a lot of people have
10:44connected.
10:45And I don't think the Bills have ever really hidden from that, that the design was heavily influenced.
10:51On the locker room, I did see a clip of my old friend, our old friend, Frank Cravada, who's from
10:57the Bills' end, is, like, probably the guy that's maybe most responsible for a lot of these little design touches,
11:03you know, along with the architects and all the people that aren't directly employed by the Bills.
11:09But I saw Frank narrating a piece in the locker room demonstrating, first of all, you mentioned, like, the, you
11:17know, each locker is going to have, you know,
11:19the outlets and, like, it's basically a power strip that's hidden that, like, popped up from the shelf in the
11:25locker, which is pretty cool.
11:26But the thing, the reason I'm even bringing this up is that he mentioned how the lighting is designed to,
11:32depending on what they're wearing, it will change, like, the mood in the room, the lighting in the room will
11:38complement.
11:39If they're wearing all white, there's more white light.
11:41If they're wearing red or blue, the shades of the way the room is lit will represent what they're wearing
11:47that day.
11:48I want that.
11:49Yeah, we saw that today, and while we're, I couldn't take a picture, obviously, like I said, I tweeted out,
11:53but, yes, that was exactly it, and I remember that.
11:56So, we asked, you know, staff there about it, and that was exactly what was said to us.
12:01So, it was, like, it was red and blue on top of the ceiling.
12:05Yeah.
12:05But, like, if the Bills are wearing all white that day, they can make it just look all white, and
12:08I think it's going to match exactly what you said, Bulldog, which is their, and they can do all that,
12:12and they have the ability to change that lighting.
12:14They have the ability to change the lighting down at the, down inside the field club where you see that
12:18big bar, and, like, they can change all that lighting down there to represent.
12:21One of the cooler things I've never seen this anywhere is, and I'm very interested how this is going to,
12:26I'm sure it'll be fine, but.
12:29So, if you have field club access, that's, I think, sections 109, 110, 111, maybe.
12:36You can go down into the field club, which is right behind and underneath, like, the bench area there where
12:40the players walk in, but that's also where the post-game press conference is going to be for Joe Brady
12:48and Josh Allen, and fans will be able to literally see into the glass while that is happening.
12:53Wow.
12:54The Bills' last game in San Francisco, Chan Gailey was their coach.
12:59They've not been there since.
13:01Kaepernick.
13:02And that's, that's still Candlestick, is that?
13:04That's Candlestick.
13:05Yeah.
13:05It's not the new place.
13:06Alex Smith started that, 45-3.
13:09Remember that game?
13:09San Francisco on 45-3.
13:10Oh, yeah.
13:11They, like, ran for 300 and threw for 300 or something like that?
13:14It was, like, a really, really big number.
13:18Before I forget, there was one thing I did want to bring up, because, especially, you know, like, you know,
13:23with Bulldog, with, you know, music and concerts, and, you know, this is a place where we're all going to
13:28go, and I know that, you know, probably appealed to you pretty well, I would say.
13:32The acoustics were incredible today.
13:35So, something I learned, I didn't know, but we were in there, and it was, they're playing the music, and
13:40it was, you know, you could hear it.
13:43It wasn't super loud, but it was nice and clear.
13:45And then Frank Corvada said to me, he's like, yeah, he goes, when we really crank it up, he said,
13:49we did that, and all of our watches were going off saying, like, hey, loud music, loud music, you know.
13:54Right, exactly.
13:55So, we get over to, like, where the charge bar is over in the end zone, and they did.
13:59Like, they turned it up, and we had, I have a video of this at my Twitter at South Sports,
14:04and I said, you could listen to this.
14:06They cranked up ACDC Hells Bells, and it sounded so good.
14:11I mean, like, so loud and so crystal clear.
14:15Like, when you go to these stadiums and these venues, as you guys know, like, you get that echo, right,
14:18especially because there's that overhang now and all that.
14:21There was nothing like that.
14:22And what I learned was, and Frank told me this, so right underneath, like, the 200-level overhang there, like,
14:27near the charge bar and all that, around the stadium, I think there's, like, seven, excuse me, 700, like, little
14:32speakers that actually are designed to time up the sound hitting you where you're sitting the way it should instead
14:38of having the echo.
14:39So, sports.
14:42Suddenly, I'm thinking of, like, 19-year-old me pulling up to my friend's house going, get in my car.
14:47You got to hear this new Sanyo 200-watt stereo I just got.
14:50Yes.
14:50Like, doing that with a stadium has got to be a pretty boss move.
14:54It's got to feel pretty good.
14:56I said, how do you find people that even do these things?
15:00And, you know, he said, listen, we really sought out the best audio engineers in the world to do these
15:05kinds of things.
15:06And that's what we were after when it came to the video board and the sound.
15:09And it shows.
15:10I'm just telling you, like, it doesn't do justice.
15:13Videos and pictures that I post, it's really pretty damn cool.
15:17You know, one other thing I observed from just looking at these photos and the videos that so many of
15:23you and your peers posted this morning, Sal,
15:26when they initially had put the seats in with the red and white and the blue and the sort of
15:32swirling,
15:33and the rest of the stadium wasn't, like, all the finishing touches weren't there.
15:37I wasn't sure how that was going to land on me.
15:41But seeing them now with all the finishing touches there, you know, like logos and the colors on the walls
15:49around the field and upper, you know,
15:51I think it really looks great.
15:54The choice they made to seemingly somewhat randomly just have the seats colored the way they are, I'm sure it
16:02wasn't entirely random.
16:03It just kind of looks that way.
16:04I think it totally works.
16:06I agree.
16:07It's kind of different and a little weird when you think about it, and then you see it being put
16:12together, and then you're there, and then you're like, oh, yeah,
16:14it doesn't spell out anything or anything like that, right?
16:17It's just there.
16:18Like, why is it like that?
16:19I don't know.
16:20I mean, yeah, you're right.
16:20Maybe some areas are certain colors for certain reasons, but a lot of it is actually quite random.
16:25And then in the north end zone, where that charge bar is, I don't know about the south end zone.
16:30I wasn't there.
16:30I didn't go over to that spot.
16:32But in the north end zone, like, I took a picture.
16:34I mean, some of the seats where people are going to be sitting are the most cushiony.
16:39Like, imagine, like, being in a golf cart and saying, this is the best seat I've ever sat in a
16:42golf cart, right?
16:43Like, it feels like that.
16:45Really cool.
16:46And then real quick, I got to tell you.
16:48So I remember, this is years and years ago after the Pagoulas bought the team, Kim and I had conversations
16:55about eventually what a new stadium would look like.
16:57And this is probably 2017, 2018, somewhere in there.
17:01And she said to me once, she said, you know, she goes, I don't understand.
17:05And I would really like in the new stadium for this to be different.
17:08Why, if you are maybe a suite holder and you're like at the 10 yard line and one of your
17:12friends is a suite holder and the same side, but in the other 10 yard line, why you got to
17:16go outside and go, you can't meet them.
17:17You can't go see them, right?
17:18They're all totally separate.
17:20And she said, in the new stadium, like to build an area where everybody could just kind of gather and
17:25guys, like it came to fruition.
17:26And I get emotional thinking about it because Kim told me that.
17:29And I relayed that story today to Frankie.
17:30He's like, you're right.
17:31You're right.
17:31And I mean, Todd Sterowitz, I told him and he said, you're right.
17:34And it's because that was Kim's vision.
17:35And they have this large, really awesome atrium with TVs and lounge chairs.
17:41And you can have a corporate event there.
17:43You can have a fantasy football draft there.
17:45You can have a Christmas party.
17:46But it's cool because no matter where your suite is, you can get together with people to enjoy the day,
17:52the game, a blowout, whatever.
17:55Sounds like a lot.
17:56Thank you, Sal, for this.
17:58And we'll talk again soon.
17:59You got it, guys.
18:00Thanks.
18:00Yeah, excellent.
18:01Sal Capaccio on the Western Hotline.
18:03His appearances are brought to you by New York's only outlet, Liquor.
18:06When you need to stock up, it's the place to buy a case.
18:09What's your outlet?
18:11It's all very exciting.
18:12My first game, I sat on a metal bench.
18:16In the pouring rain, wearing a garbage bag.
18:19And somehow, I enjoyed it.
18:21I don't know how many speakers they had.
18:24But, man, it was good enough for me.
18:27Mike Show.
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