Tag: Bills stadium

Jul 9

2024

Buffalo Bills begin spending on community projects

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The Buffalo Bills stadium under construction in Orchard Park. Photo by Garrett Looker. The good news: The Buffalo Bills have already begun spending millions of dollars on community groups and projects in accordance with the community benefits agreement attached to the team’s new stadium. There’s more: The team has extended the CBA, agreeing to make the annual allocations for three additional years. That means the Bills will spend an additional $9 million on the CBA, for a total of $99 million over 33 years. It also means the money is flowing now, instead of starting in 2026 when the new[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Apr 2

2024

Roundup of Buffalo Bills stadium coverage

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Image courtesy of WGRZ. Now seems like a good time to review our reporting on the Bills’ new $1.7 billion stadium, slated to open in 2026. Most of the following stories were reported by J. Dale Shoemaker and Mark Scheer.  Taxpayer subsidies: Subsidies will top $1 billion between construction and maintenance and go well beyond what New York State typically spends on stadiums and arenas or what taxpayers spend in most other states. The lease will not provide Erie County taxpayers with any relief for maintenance and other ongoing stadium costs.  Economic impact: Stadiums typically generate little new economic activity,[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Apr 6

2023

Experts: Stadium CBA comes up short

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According to experts, the community benefits agreement for the new Buffalo Bills stadium lacks key provisions that are common to successful CBAs elsewhere. That’s partly by design. The CBA for the Bills stadium, announced Wednesday, is the first such agreement for a major project in Erie County. It calls for the team to commit $3 million annually over 30 years to fund projects that benefit the community. That’s in exchange for a $850 million public contribution to the $1.5 billion stadium. But the deal does not specify how that money should be spent, leaving those decisions up to an oversight[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Mar 22

2023

Heaney discusses Bills stadium on ‘Pressroom

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David Lombardo interviewed Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney on the latest developments on the Buffalo Bills stadium on The Capitol Pressroom. His remarks drew on the reporting of J. Dale Shoemaker and Mark Scheer. Heaney explained how the project has come up short – costly to taxpayers, remotely located and not designed to meet the green standards common to other NFL stadiums built in the past decade. There’s also the matter of a lease that doesn’t necessarily bind the team to Buffalo for the long-run.  

Posted 2 years ago

Nov 16

2021

A record subsidy for Bills stadium?

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 There’s never been a stadium built for a National Football League team that cost taxpayers the $1 billion being bandied about for a new home for the Buffalo Bills. Only one stadium, built to lure the Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas, even comes close, at $750 million. Three other stadiums built over the past decade involved taxpayer subsidies between $114 million and $498 million. Another stadium, built in Los Angeles for the Rams and Chargers, was constructed entirely with $5 billion in private funds. How the Bills and local and state governments split the cost of a new[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Aug 25

2021

Bills stadium study being kept secret

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Three years ago, the Buffalo Bills hired consultants to examine options and costs tied to a new football stadium in Western New York. The study is now part of negotiations over a proposed open-air stadium in Orchard Park that will reportedly cost $1.4 billion, with much, if not all of it, paid for by taxpayers.  So, did the study consider other stadium options? What does it say about potential costs? Is there anything in it related to the conditions of the Bills’ current home, Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park?   The Bills aren’t saying and neither are public officials. To date,[...]

Posted 4 years ago
Investigative Post