Buffalo Bills seal tentative deal for $1.54B new stadium project
As the NFL Draft approaches, Erie County legislators are now on the clock.
County officials, New York State and the Buffalo Bills have released the final details of a $1.54 billion deal to build the NFL team a new stadium with the help of taxpayer money.
“The Buffalo Bills will be staying here, not only for the next few years during construction, but 30 years thereafter,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz told reporters Tuesday. “So this at least secures them in our community until 2055.”
County lawmakers now have 30 days to approve or reject the controversial proposal to replace Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, which has hosted the Bills since 1973.
The $1.54 billion price tag is roughly $100 million more than the previously stated cost of the project — with the difference covered by the team.
Critics have said for years that $850 million in public money – $600 million from the state and $250 million from the county – would not be well spent on the planned stadium for the football team owned by billionaire couple Terry and Kim Pegula.
“Every dollar local leaders bet on the Bills rather than investing in core public services comes at a cost to those other long-term opportunities” reads a 2021 analysis from the Tax Policy Center. “Putting taxpayer dollars into higher-return public amenities could benefit Buffalo in ways a taxpayer-funded NFL team can’t.”
But officials like Poloncarz and Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, have claimed that the project would generate vital economic activity in Western New York — while keeping a cherished source of local pride from moving elsewhere.
“I have a large state with a lot of different interests, and I know that this is important for the identity of Western New York, I will stand by that,” Hochul said last year after securing approval for the use of state money in the stadium project as part of a budget deal.
Hochul may have an added personal stake in the project. The Post reported last year that her husband Bill, senior vice president and general counsel at Highmark Stadium concessionaire Delaware North, can be expected to make big money if the firm is able to keep football fans fed and boozed up for another three decades.
April Baskin, chair of the Erie County Legislature, could not be reached for immediate comment.
Newly-released documents detail some sweeteners in the deal for various parties.
- Erie County will get its own suite at the future stadium.
- The Bills must invest at least $3 million in the surrounding community each year, with future increases to be based on inflation.
- Construction workers will receive a “prevailing wage” that exceeds market-rate pay.
- The Bills would have to pay back at least some of the public money if they ever try to move.
Poloncarz said Wednesday that the deal followed years of negotiations that sought to strike a balance between the desire to keep the team in Buffalo while maximizing potential economic benefits.
“This is one of the most complicated deals I have ever been involved with. When you talk about dotting I’s and crossing T’s this is what you end up with – hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents,” he said.
The county executive also reminded reporters that San Diego, St. Louis, and Oakland had lost their NFL teams to Los Angeles and Las Vegas in recent years.
“As much as everybody would like to think the Bills were never moving, there was always a risk,” he added. “I can guarantee you, this team is staying here.”
