D&C Buffalo Bills reporter Sal Maiorana has 35 years of Bills coverage under his belt, and hundreds of thousands of steps around Highmark Stadium.
This story is part of a year-long series from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle documenting the Buffalo Bills' last season in the current Highmark Stadium. Follow along this year as we chronicle the team's ups and downs, fan memories and more.
There's four hours until the 1 p.m. kickoff of the Buffalo Bills matchup against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, and Sal Maiorana has to hit the ground running — well, walking.
The 35-year veteran Bills reporter for the Democrat & Chronicle always arrives at Highmark Stadium hours before home games begin to beat the inevitable traffic jam.
His first order of business? He has to get his steps in. And lots of them.
He parks his car in a lot close to the stadium right around 9 a.m., pops an earbud in each ear, presses play on Oasis' Familiar to Millions album and starts the 45-minute two-mile walk around the outside perimeter of the stadium.
Along his path, the first signs of tailgating are starting to appear. Lines of cars waiting to get into mostly empty parking lots are thickening; those already inside are opening up their trunks, pulling out tents and folding tables and starting up their grills.
This part of the almost four-decade beat reporter's pre-game routine started about a year and a half ago as a way to better his health. But it has morphed into a moment of tranquility before the intensity of the game. He's been in the car for almost two hours, too, so it doesn't hurt to stretch a bit before sitting for several more.
You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who's taken more steps here than Maiorana — he's been to over 400 games at what he still calls Rich Stadium — and although today's steps are far from his first inside Highmark, he knows they are some of his last, each one carrying more weight.
A glimpse inside the Highmark press box on Bills game day
As the clock ticked closer to kickoff, the excitement in the stands grew. Fans began to fill the seats and cheered (or booed) emphatically as the teams took the field for warmups — those in the lowest level tossed a ball around with a player or two.
It's different inside the press box, though — the spot reserved for seasoned veterans like Maiorana to watch the games.
Tucked in the lower level of a tower jutting out of one corner of the stadium, the press box, with its dark mirror-like windows and hushed chatter, is a considerably different space than the general admission seats just beyond the box's 24 panes of floor-to-ceiling glass.
The crowd is right there — when the team scores and people turn to each other to deliver high-fives, press box reporters could reach over and join in if it weren't for the glass — but the noise is almost completely muffled, like the stadium's roar is underwater.
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Stat sheets, pairs of binoculars and plenty of caffeine are sprawled across four rows of long white granite tables. The room is evenly split — those covering the Bills sit on the left and the opposing team's coverage — today the New Orleans Saints — on the right.
From the first row on the Bills side, Maiorana, squinting a bit, intently studies the field, briefly glances down at his laptop to jot down a few notes, then returns his focus back outside.
But once play starts, the conversations between the 50 or so reporters dim to a stark stillness. Two people occasionally break the silence in the top right corner of the room to call out each play, the second voice often repeating the stat with more detail through a microphone.
Here we go. Snap. Pass. Tackle 47. Nine yards.
There's no cheering in here for either team — it's not allowed — but an occasional dismissive wave of a hand or instinctual chuckle slips out after a play unfolds. It's a part of the job that might seem strange for the thousands of red, white and blue clad fans stationed right outside the confines of the press box.
But Maiorana, who's been at this since the 90s, shed his fandom a long time ago — that focus is on the New York Yankees now.
"Maybe when I retire, maybe I'll become that teenager again," Maiorana said. "I'll be screaming at the TV if (the Bills are) playing bad, but not right now."
'It's the best job in the world'
But when Maiorana first set foot in Highmark Stadium over 50 years ago, he was a fan like any other Buffalo native. It was the team's first game ever played in the then-brand new stadium — a 37-21 preseason loss to Washington in 1973.
Maiorana's allegience to the Bills came with the territory. He was born and raised mostly in Buffalo to parents who were born and raised there, too. And even though he spent some time living in Syracuse growing up, he and his dad always bought tickets for the game closest to his October birthday.
His sportswriting career grew fast. He started as a stringer for the Associated Press while attending Buffalo State University in the 80s and worked his way up to being a full-time Bills beat reporter for the D&C in 1990 — just four years into working for the paper — after a brief stint as a golf writer and a year covering Syracuse University football.
Sportswriting was his only career goal since a teacher he had in sixth grade recognized his writing potential and helped him believe he could do it.
"I knew I wanted to be a sportswriter, just plain and simple," Maiorana said. "There was nothing else I wanted to do."
It's a job that's changed through the years — today's media availability with the players can be frustrating and journalists now write stories formatted for a chronically online audience — but he's adamant on not taking any of it for granted.
"I'm covering a team that I grew up a fan of," Maiorana said. "Are you kidding me? It's the best job in the world."
One last season in Maiorana's 'home away from home'
It wasn't quite the blowout some people were expecting on Sunday. The Bills topped the Saints 31-19 as head coach Sean McDermott picked up his 90th career win and safety Cole Bishop nabbed his first NFL interception.
After the game clock reached zero, though, overtime began for Maiorana — meaning more steps.
First, a mad dash to the tunnel to film a game recap video out on the field, then into the locker room to interview players like Bishop and linebacker Terrel Bernard before heading over to the press conference room, where he, in classic Sal fashion, dropped a few choice words about how long it took for a post-game interview with McDermott to start.
He eventually asked the head coach a couple questions — He knew he'd thrown out a good one when McDermott delivered a five-second non-answer.
Back inside the press box, it's somehow even quieter than before. The workforce has been reduced to less than 20 and all you hear is the sound of fingers colliding with keyboards.
There are still a few things left on Maiorana's to-do list before driving the hour and a half back to Rochester — write up his observations from the game, hop on a YouTube livestream to share his thoughts on the game and possibly fit in a podcast episode with former WGRZ sports director Adam Benigni.
By the end of the night, Maiorana surprisingly fell short of his 18,000 daily steps goal, racking up around 9,000 in and around Highmark on Sunday. But every step here this season means a little more.
In a matter of months, he'll take his last steps out of this stadium and his first into the new stadium just across the street.
"I will miss that place like I miss no place," Maiorana says about the last season inside the current Highmark Stadium. "It's been my life. It's been my home away from home."
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Emily Barnes reports on consumer-related issues for the USA TODAY Network’s New York Connect Team, but occasionally, as a certified member of the Mafia, tries her hand at covering the Bills and their fans. Follow her on X and Instagram @byemilybarnes. Get in touch at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills beat writer Sal Maiorana reflects on Highmark Stadium's finale
Category: General Sports
