Buffalo Bills Season Tickets Through the Years

The Buffalo Bills will open their new $2.1 billion dollar football palace in a few weeks that ensures the team will be in the Queen City for a long time. Despite some criticism regarding personal seat licenses and almost a doubling of ticket prices, the stadium is sold out with season ticketholders, though some long-time fans were priced out of the market. But sadly, that is today’s NFL.

Before the digital ticket age, one of the fun things about being a season ticketholder was the excitement when your season ticket package arrived in the U.S. mail. It was with eager anticipation that a season ticketholder, or at least this one, would open that package and see what the new tickets looked like for the upcoming season. Upon opening it, I could not wait for the season to get going, and the package usually arrived around the beginning of training camp.

Today, there is no such package that comes in the mail, nor does it come digitally. The only communication you receive from the team is an email informing you when they will be charging your credit card and when you are paid in full. It is a big-missed opportunity for the team to create a connection with their longtime supporters. But despite that the Bills still have one of the most rabid fan bases in sports,

Let’s take a nostalgic look back at some of those season ticket packages:

In the early 1960s, the season ticket package was very similar to a coupon book at the time. It was a 4” by 1¾” black and white booklet with “The Buffalo Bills 1961 Season Ticket Book, Price $35.00” printed across the front for that season. Inside the booklet, the tickets were attached with a perforated line so that they could be easily removed. Despite the booklet only being black and white the tickets were colorful, listing the game number, section, row and seat number as well as the day, date, cost, and the gate to enter the stadium. The design of the season ticket booklet and tickets remained consistent until 1969 with little change from year-to-year, except the year on the outside of the booklet and the cost of the season ticket.

In 1969 the Bills moved away from the booklet and instead provided a ticket sheet for each seat with the tickets affixed and a perforated line for ease of removal. The ticket sheet included a “Buffalo Bills Season Ticket Identification” portion that identified the season ticket holder by name, mailing address and account number and it displayed the total dollar amount of season tickets ordered, paid, and if any amount was due. A standing buffalo helmet and “1969” was also printed on the five by 10-inch identification portion. In addition to the identification portion and the tickets, there was also the Bills 1969 schedule and an order form for additional tickets and each of those had a perforated line for ease of removal. The original price displayed was $126.00. This was the Bills last season in the AFL. 

With the opening of Rich Stadium in 1973, the Bills got a little fancier with the season ticket package. The season ticket sheets were similar to 1969, but they came inside a 10 1/2″ by 7 1/2″ white envelope that featured a rendering of the new stadium with flags flying for each of the Bills home opponents and “Buffalo Bills” printed across the base in black. In the upper right corner was “1973 Home Schedule” printed in black. Also, the colorful tickets, now vertically oriented, had a rendering of the stadium and printed on the ticket, in addition to the usual, was “Home of the Bills.” In the subsequent years up until 1978, the team had the Bills helmet, logo or the stadium featured on the tickets.  

The price of a single season ticket had only gone up from $126 in 1969 to $140 as shown on the Ticket Identification Sheet, not much of an increase. It also displayed an individual game ticket order form and a 1973 schedule.

The Bills season package did not change much for many years, though they did continue to send the tickets in a fancy envelope with the stadium displayed, the Bills helmet, opponents’ helmets, and/or a game action photo or some combination. 

Displayed with this article is a 1978 season ticket identification sheet with two tickets still attached, so you can see what it would have looked like with tickets affixed. Also, the Bills put game action photos on the tickets, something they would do in 1978 and 1979. In 1980, the tickets featured the Bills helmet and in 1981 an image of Rich Stadium. In 1982 the tickets featured the opponent’s helmet, in 1983 an artist rendering theme regarding the opposing team and then in 1984 the Bills 25th anniversary logo was on each ticket and in 1985 the tickets displayed the Bills helmet and the opponents’ helmet. 

When Jim Kelly joined the team in 1986 and season ticket sales exploded, the season ticket package remained consistent, though an individual ticket order form was replaced with a removable card that gave instructions on how to remove the tickets and encouraged ticketholders to safeguard the tickets and the card displayed the Bills red streaking buffalo helmet. The tickets featured the opponents’ helmet, something the team continued to feature through the 1994 season. From 1995 through 1997 the tickets had the Bills helmet or logo and the opponents’ helmet, except in 1997, the Bills logo was accompanied with an action photo.

Following the renovation of the stadium in 1998 and the addition of club seats, the Bills upgraded the season ticket package. The package was now a folder with the theme for the season. Shown here is the 2004 10” by 7” folder with a photo of Bills linebacker Takeo Spikes and printed to his left is “THIS IS OUR HOUSE BE THERE.” On the back of the folder was the Bills 2004 schedule. Inside the folder was the season ticket sheet and a letter from the Bills.

The tickets for 1998 and ’99 had the Bills name and/or logo and the opponents name and/or logo. In 2000 the Bills began putting coach and player photos on the tickets, something they would continue to do through 2008 along with team names or logos. For 2003-’05 the photos were only background images.

The 2009 season was the Bills 50^th Anniversary. For that season the four-inch by 8½” season ticket folder featured photos of Ralph C. Wilson Jr., Andre Reed #83, Thurman Thomas #34, Daryle Lamonica #12, Ed Rutkowski #40 and a Bills standing buffalo button superimposed over a photo of the inside of War Memorial Stadium on the lower half of the folder.  The tickets for that season had a significant franchise highlight for each game. For example, the Bills 1964 AFL championship with Keith Lincoln’s “Hit Heard Round the World” adorned the ticket for the Bears game on August 15. 

From 2010 through 2013 the team continued to vary between having action photos and/or just helmets of the two competing teams displayed on the tickets.

The final season of receiving a ticket package was 2014. Following that year, the team no longer produced a package and only sent a small non-descript envelope. The team went to digital tickets for season ticketholders or the ticket holder could request a season ticket credit card that had all the games loaded on it. No more printed tickets.

The 2014 package theme was “THIS IS OUR TIME” printed across the top with the Bills logo and below that were featured five Buffalo players. The five players were Stephon Gilmore #24, Kiko Alonso #50, E.J. Manuel #3, C.J. Spiller #28, and Robert Woods #10. Across the base was printed “2014 Season Ticket Member Cards.” Inside the package was the season ticket credit card which the team offered up through 2022 when they went digital only. 

Printed tickets and season ticket package collectibles are rising in value and will continue to do so. There is an increasing nostalgia with the complete move to digital only tickets. Values will continue to rise and thus tickets are an excellent collectible and not only for value, but also for so many of the memories.

By Greg Tranter