The current home of the Buffalo Bills played a part in the deal pertaining to the construction of the new one.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz shed some light on the matter.
In 2021, Highmark Stadium’s current condition was reviewed by DiDonato Associates, a stadium construction firm. Poloncarz revealed that the findings included concerns with the upper deck area of the current venue.
Via his Twitter account, Poloncarz stated that there were issues discovered with that area of the stadium which would require replacing seating and building supports. That would have had to be addressed in the next five to seven years, according to the Buffalo News.
That combines with the potential construction timeline and cost involving the building of a stadium in the city of Buffalo.
Per Poloncarz, he said on Twitter that building a venue in the city would require the revamping of infrastructure in the Buffalo city limits. That would include the addition of a light rail train to transport people. Such an idea would have been expected by many, but factoring in the upper-deck issues, this does elongate the timeline. That’s important.
Poloncarz did directly acknowledge that his personal preference was to have the new stadium in Buffalo and not Orchard Park. Simply put, the finances and timeline would not have made sense.
As the story ended up concluding, the Bills, Erie County, and New York State agreed to a $1.4 billion stadium construction in Orchard Park to open by the 2026.
Poloncarz also said it was team ownership’s preference to keep it in Orchard Park, writing: “It’s a compromise. The team stays. That’s a win.” The executive then noted publicly that the Pegulas wanted the stadium to be financed 100 percent by the taxpayers.
Instead, the Bills and the NFL will front another $550M for the project. The $850M total from taxpayers covers 61 percent of the total cost of construction.
The 100 percent taxpayer ask isn’t very surprising since the team was probably “low balling” things early in the construction conversations–but all things considered–we have some more background knowledge on the negotiations.
By finishing the stadium by 2026, the current stadium doesn’t have to be patched up again and infrastructure in Buffalo won’t need to be revamped. These are measures that likely saved millions of dollars, according to Poloncarz.
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