FAIRPORT, N.Y. — A lot of people in Bills Mafia are still waiting for the souvenir turf they bought from the old Highmark Stadium.
One fan in Fairport told News10NBC Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean he bought it for his son’s birthday, and the big day is this week. At the start of every Bills camp, Kim Fravel puts up a Bills flag outside his home in Fairport.
“And it will be there until they’re done in the playoffs and hopefully the Super Bowl,” Fravel said.
“Something’s not right here”
This year, for his son’s birthday in August, he ordered a section of turf from old Highmark Stadium through the Bills store. He placed the order on Jan. 16 — an authentic piece of turf in a glass case for $99.
“And since then?” Brean asked.
“Haven’t got it,” Fravel said.
“Something is not right here. It should not take seven or eight months to cut a piece of turf and put it into a case. And yet I can go to Wegmans today and I can buy seats and I can buy all kinds of stuff,” Fravel said.
Turf for sale at Wegmans
Lisa Wittek had a strong reaction in Pittsford Wegmans when she saw Highmark turf for sale. For Wittek, it’s personal — she was on the field as an extra in the Hallmark Christmas movie at Highmark, and football is a connection to her late father.
So she bought it for $99.
“It’s crazy. Fandom. Mafia. I don’t know. We’re not okay,” Wittek said with a laugh.
“You could go right now and buy a bag of turf,” Brean said showing Fravel a photo of the turf at Wegmans.
“Right. But not the order I placed,” Fravel said.
There are online threads with the same frustration as Fravel. His latest phone call said it might arrive in late August or September.
“By then the birthday is over,” Brean said.
“The birthday is in two days. So could be a Christmas gift at this point,” Fravel said.
The birthday gift solution
Brean talked to Brandon Steiner of Collectables Xchange, the man in charge of the turf sales. He said there are 20,000 orders for turf, stadium seats and just about everything that could be sold in the old stadium. He said the long winter and the wet spring delayed cutting the turf until May and therefore delayed the deliveries.
Late Wednesday, Steiner called Fravel and promised to ship the turf gift by Friday. Fravel says the birthday celebration will be Sunday.
The post A Fairport dad ordered a piece of Highmark Stadium turf for his son’s birthday — seven months later, it still hasn’t arrived appeared first on WHEC.com.
