The Buffalo Bills had a one-time opt out of their lease with Erie County for their stadium, New Era Field.
That had to be exercised by the end of February, but ahead of that, the Bills confirmed that they will not be doing so. The team did so in a letter to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
Poloncarz then took to social media to post the letter. In doing so, Poloncarz wrote “I requested the letter from (the Bills) to show their commitment and good faith to the county and community.” Here’s the letter:
There are media reports of my receipt of a letter from @BuffaloBills confirming they will not early terminate the lease. That is correct. I requested the letter from them to show their commitment and good faith to the county and community. They delivered and I thank them. #Bills pic.twitter.com/1O94dILXJY
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) January 31, 2020
Essentially the spotlight is now on 2023 for the Bills. That same lease concludes that year. It was a 10-year lease. The decision by the Bills to not terminate the lease does not come as a surprise, as Pegula Sports and Entertainment, run by team owners Terry and Kim Pegula, have recently conducted stadium feasibility studies.
Findings from those have not been publicly released. However, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke ahead of the Super Bowl on Wednesday and for the first time appeared more open to the Bills renovating their current home, but he didn’t take a new stadium off the table. Intriguing that Goodell would do so, but perhaps he’s found out the answers from that same study. Regardless, the NFL would likely want a massive overhaul of New Era Field’s facilities via those renovations.
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