The Activation
PepsiCo Beverages North America is marking the Buffalo Bills' first regular-season home game at the new Highmark Stadium on September 17 with a scaled fan activation that puts food-and-beverage at the center of the venue debut. The free pregame event — branded under Pepsi's ongoing "Tailgating Deserves Pepsi" platform — features ice-cold product, gameday food from regional grocery and foodservice operator Wegmans, premium giveaways, and a meet-and-greet with a Bills legend.
The touchstone of the program is a limited-edition commemorative can printed with quarterback Josh Allen's signature, custom co-branded Buffalo Bills artwork, and the team's "BILLIEVE" rallying cry. Thousands of units will be distributed at the pregame tailgate and to exiting fans following the game, while supplies last. The cans are not a retail SKU — they function as a high-visibility, single-day sampling and loyalty vehicle tied directly to venue traffic.
Partnership Economics
The activation underscores the long-term value of stadium pouring rights in the carbonated soft drink category. Pepsi has held the Official Soft Drink designation with the Bills for 28 years and carries Founding Partner status at the new Highmark Stadium — a public-private facility developed in partnership between the Bills, New York State, and Erie County. That tenure gives Pepsi dominant category placement across the venue's 360-degree concourses and what the Bills describe as "frictionless food and beverage marketplaces," a design feature increasingly common in next-generation stadium builds aimed at reducing transaction friction and lifting per-cap spend.
"Bills Mafia has built one of the most iconic gameday cultures in sports, and Pepsi is proud to have been part of it for decades," said Gustavo Reyna, Vice President of Marketing at Pepsi. Jason Hartlund, Chief Commercial Officer of the Buffalo Bills, called the commemorative cans "great examples of Pepsi's creativity and continued investment" in the partnership as the franchise enters its new-stadium era.
Broader NFL Foodservice Play
The Bills opener is one node in a wider NFL-season strategy. As the league's Official Soft Drink, Pepsi is activating "Tailgating Deserves Pepsi" at stadiums across the country throughout the 2026 season, positioning the brand as the default CSD for gameday food occasions — from concession stand pours to pregame tailgate coolers. For foodservice operators and stadium concessionaires, that kind of branded platform typically translates into volume commitments, co-marketing dollars, and equipment support that anchor beverage program economics at the venue level.
The Wegmans integration at the Buffalo tailgate is also notable from a foodservice channel perspective. The Rochester-based grocer operates a substantial prepared-foods and catering business, and its presence alongside Pepsi at a marquee NFL activation signals continued blurring between retail foodservice and stadium hospitality — a trend accelerating as venues compete on culinary experience as much as sportsmanship. For operators tracking beverage program partnerships in high-traffic venues, Pepsi's Highmark playbook offers a current-cycle case study in how a legacy pouring-rights deal gets refreshed around a stadium opening.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
